In what has been an incredible year for Standing at the Sky’s Edge, we are excited to learn that the team behind the production are to receive an honorary degree from Sheffield Hallam University, in recognition of the show’s outstanding contribution to the creative industries.
Accepting the award on behalf of the wider company, the degree will be presented to writer Chris Bush, director Robert Hastie and co-producer Rupert Lord alongside graduating students and seven other notable public figures at a graduation ceremony in November.
This latest accolade for the love letter to Sheffield follows on from a year outstanding achievements. Having starting the year at the Crucible, the production transferred to the National Theatre, securing eight Olivier nominations and winning two (Best New Musical and Best Original Score and New Orchestrations). Soon after it was announced that Standing at the Sky’s Edge will transfer to the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London’s West End in February 2024.
The team said “On behalf of everyone behind Standing at the Sky’s Edge, we are thrilled to be honoured in this way. This show has been made with, for and by the people of Sheffield, proudly presented on our Crucible stage, and propelled to critical acclaim and a further life at the National Theatre and now the West End by Sheffield’s incredible audiences, whose support of theatre in this city is enormous and vital to UK culture.”
The full creative team behind the production includes: Designer Ben Stones; Choreographer Lynne Page; Music Supervisor, Arranger and Orchestrator Tom Deering; Musical Director John Rutledge; Lighting Designer Mark Henderson; Sound Designer Bobby Aitken; Wigs, Hair And Make-Up Designer Cynthia De La Rosa; Casting Director Stuart Burt CDG; Staff Director Elin Schofield; Associate Choreographer And Staff Director (London) Thomas Herron; Associate Costume Designer Sally Wilson; Assistant Musical Director Ehsaan Shivarani; Fight Director Kenan Ali; Dialect Coach Michaela Kennen; Dialect Coach Shereen Ibrahim; Rehearsal Pianist Tom Crathorne; Music Preparation Matthew Jackson. The cast of the 2022/23 production includes: Darragh Cowley; Ahmed Hamad; Sèverine Howell-Meri; Samuel Jordan; Bobbie Little; Robert Lonsdale; David McKechnie; Maimuna Memon; Rachael Louise Miller; Baker Mukasa; Alastair Natkiel; Faith Omole; Adam Price; Consuela Rolle; Nicola Sloane; Jake Small; Deborah Tracey; Rachael Wooding; Alex Young.
The degree will be the second time composer Richard Hawley has been acknowledged by the university as he was also awarded an honorary doctorate in 2008.
