The Sheffield University Theatre Company (SUTCo) have revealed their semester 1 programme for the 2024/25 academic year. The group, which aim to put on approximately 8 performances per year, have unveiled the line-up following their EGM and proposals process last week, with two of the three being original scripts. Taking to social media this morning, the working committee said: “Announcing our shows for semester one! Congratulations to all our successful production teams…keep an eye out for audition info over the summer!”
The first full-scale show, taking place in week 5 of the first semester, is titled Your Heart’s Too Open, Close It, written by Ambrose Robinson and directed by him, assisted by Isobel Wood. The show is described as a “metamodern, absurdist, sci-fi romcom”, and will play a four-night run at the University of Sheffield Drama Studio, beginning the SUTCo line-up at the end of October. Featuring a production team of both new and returning talent from the theatre group, Your Heart’s Too Open, Close It is set to be a departure from SUTCo’s usual programming, with new ideas set to be tested on stage later this year.
Following the week 5 show will be week 8’s The Importance of Being Earnest, directed by Amaara Qureshi and assistant directed by both Abby Broido and Emilia Lodge. The classic play by Oscar Wilde currently has no confirmed show numbers, dates or location, but Forge Press understands that being in the committee’s Alternative Venue Performance (AVP) slot in week 8, it will not be staged at the Drama Studio, unlike the other announcements. With alternative identities and convoluted relationships, the comedy play will be taking place in November.
Drawing the first semester to a close in the coveted week 10 slot is co-director Andrew Hurrell’s original script Beaufort, a retelling of part of the life of Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry VII. Joining Hurrell in the director’s seat is Abbie Wright, one of the co-directors of the most recent SUTCo production Shakespeare in the Park: As You Like It. This play will also be staged in the University of Sheffield Drama Studio in December and take audiences on a historical journey into one of the lesser-known women behind the English royal houses.
The three announced shows will also be joined by a week 3 short production, which has yet to be revealed by the theatre group. The production will ultimately be staged in an alternative venue to the Drama Studio, but will leave the group with four additional productions before this year is out. However, many of these show’s successes were overshadowed by reports that production teams have been warned about the impending demolition of the Barber House Annexe, the society’s primary storage location, which has left the committee leadership unsure to what extent shows will have set and prop pieces available to them.
With no alternative location forthcoming yet from the University of Sheffield or the Students’ Union, these shows may be facing the prospect of running their shows with an uncertain access to elements the societies have previously been able to rely on, with productions already considering scaling back some production elements if the situation is not resolved in the near future.
Nevertheless, SUTCo’s announcement is a welcome continuation of what has been a hugely successful year in the group’s theatre programming, welcoming around a thousand audience members in the past year, with eight events in the 2023/24 academic year. As many students will spend the summer months relaxing, SUTCo’s newest production teams are already beginning preparations for the next showstopper events in the new semester.
Auditions for SUTCo’s newest productions will take place in the opening weeks of semester 1. More information will be available on the SUTCo Instagram page (@_sutco). All reviews of this year’s SUTCo productions are available on the Forge Press website
