Standing at the Sky's Edge is a spectacular celebration of the steely Sheffield spirit - review

But the brutalist housing estate, which officially opened in 1961, does not just act as a backdrop but as a mainstay in Sheffield’s history as Standing at the Sky’s Edge documents the city going from boom to bust, through to the modern day.

With the spectre of strikes and periods of political and social turmoil looming large over much of the play – as it seamlessly weaves together the stories of three women living in Park Hill in the 1960s; 1980s and 2010s – it feels particularly apt for Standing at the Sky’s Edge to return to Sheffield’s Crucible theatre in December 2022, amid a winter of industrial discontent.

The incredible, must-see production, written by Chris Bush and legendary Sheffield musician, Richard Hawley, had its debut, sell-out run at The Crucible in 2019, and was met with acclaim from critics and viewers alike, going on to win Best Musical Production at the UK Theatre Awards in 2019 and the 2020 South Bank Sky Arts Award for Theatre.

Its staging is brilliant, with the Park Hill set of concrete corridors in the sky overlooking one of the estate’s uniform flats, somehow managing to never look out of place as its protagonists from all three eras use the space – often similataneously.

The cast is comprised of tremendously talented performers, with Robert Lonsdale and Rachel Wooding playing Harry and Rose, a hopeful young couple who are among the first to move into Park Hill in the 1960s. Watching Harry’s pride at being the youngest foreman in the city turn into stubborn defeatism after he is laid off, while a quietly resillient Rose does her best to carry the family through difficult times on her own is utterly heartbreaking.

Their costuming is brilliant, too, and helps to take the characters – and the viewers – from the post-war boom of 1960s Britain through to the thick of Thatcherism.

Faith Omole plays Liberian refugee, Joy, who moves into a delapidated Park Hill in 1989, along with makeshift family members in the form of Baker Mukasa’s George and Deborah Tracey’s Grace. Joy goes from seeing Park Hill, then plagued by crime and shady figures waiting to make trouble, as a prison to a home and sanctuary after meeting, and falling in love with, Sammy Jordan’s Jimmy.

In parts, I couldn’t get over the feeling that Jimmy looked like a character out of a Pete McKee painting, but that may just be me.

And then there is Poppy, played by Alex Young, playing the middle-class contemporary protagonist who arrives in Park Hill after fleeing heartbreak in London. She believes she has found a home at a flat in the sky, but is constantly othered by figures from her past who treat her move up north as merely a phase.

The gentrification which made Park Hill so sought-after in Poppy’s timeline is handled with delicacy, and encourages the viewer to come to their own conclusion.

Standing at the Sky’s Edge has previously been described as Richard Hawley’s love letter to Sheffield, and it is easy to see why.

The humour, fortitude and community-minded nature of its characters is Sheffield all over, and makes you proud to live here.

His wistful and moony music makes for a perfect accompaniment, and the show’s big musical numbers with dozens of performers are an utter joy to behold.

Standing at the Sky’s Edge brought me to tears, concluding with a standing ovation, and I can’t recommend it enough.

It runs at the Crucible Theatre until January 21, 2023. Book online at: https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk/events/standing-at-the-skys-edge-2

After completing its second Sheffield run, Standing at the Sky’s Edge is set to transfer to the National Theatre and make its London debut, running from February 9 to March 25, 2023.