The Sheffield University Theatre Company (SUTCo) have opened voting for their final production of the 2024/25, this year’s incarnation of Shakespeare in the Park.
With all other SUTCo productions between now and the next academic year already determined, this is the final chance for members and audiences to have their say on what SUTCo platforms before the next proposals period, expected in the final weeks of semester two.
In a post on the group’s Instagram page yesterday afternoon, SUTCo revealed the three plays in contention to be performed in Crookes Valley Park in May, “officially opening the voting form” for consideration.
“Make sure to get your votes in before the 5th of January! You have three shows to vote from: The Tempest, Comedy of Errors and Twelfth Night!”
The annual charity performance, which takes place in Crookes Valley Park, is the final play SUTCo will platform in the 2024/25 academic year, with the only other planned production, Peace Circle, heading to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the summer.
Following the recent announcement of the group’s regular semester two programme, where SUTCo will be staging Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The Effect and It Came From the Ice, the Shakespeare in the Park production will wrap up the semester two season, as well as marking the final show under the supervision of the current SUTCo committee.
Unlike regular productions, Shakespeare in the Park is determined by public vote, before applications are taken individually to be a part of the production team tasked with bringing the play to life.
Whilst usual SUTCo productions involve proposing with a full production team, SUTCo’s Projects & Workshops Officer Darcey Severne, who is charged with overseeing the initial stages of Shakespeare in the Park’s organisation, has emphasised the use of individual applications for this production, to encourage both new potential production team members to put themselves forward, as well as preventing groups of people from standing together.
The three shows in contention have generated intense debate within the society as to which members would most prefer to see staged.
The Tempest follows Prospero, a betrayed magician and ex-duke who lives on an island and seeks revenge on his brother Antonio and Naples’ king by summoning a violent storm, known as a tempest, to shipwreck them on his island.
First performed in 1611, a survey from September 2024 placed the play as the eighth favourite of The Bard’s works, measured by the number of productions created in live theatres.
Narrowly missing out on the slot last year to As You Like It, Twelfth Night follows two shipwrecked characters who each believe each other dead, leading Viola to disguise herself as a man, before falling in love with Countess Olivia.
Twelfth Night has spent several years narrowly missing SUTCo’s annual Shakespeare in the Park slot, and has been tipped to be a fierce contender for the 2024 rendition.
The play is also the most performed of all those in contention, seeing the fifth highest portrayals of all of Shakespeare’s works.
The final production under consideration, Comedy of Errors, also sees a shipwreck, but this one separating Antiphonus from his twin brother Antiphonus, with his servant Dromio searching for his brother, also called Dromio.
The ninth most performed Shakespeare work, Comedy of Errors is the least performed Shakespeare play in contention for SUTCo’s upcoming slot, and the third comedy under consideration.
With two weeks until voting closes in SUTCo’s poll, there is plenty of time remaining to cast your vote in one of the most contentious Shakespeare in the Park votes in memory.
Being the final unclaimed show slot of the academic year, we have only a matter of weeks remaining until we will know SUTCo’s full 2024/25 portfolio, and the Shakespeare play that will complete it.
Voting for SUTCo’s Shakespeare in the Park 2025 production is open until January 5th 2025. Ballots can be cast here
