The lobby of the Crucible Theatre is deceptively quiet as Dan Bates takes a seat across the table. In the back rooms manic preparations are underway for the theatre’s headline performance of Henrik Ibsen’s sharp political satire An Enemy of the People.“You wouldn’t guess – it seems very calm up here right now,” Dan says. “It’s not how I prefer it – I like it when it’s busy and vibrant.”
As Executive Director, Dan is looking forward to re-launching the Crucible after two years of redesign and refurbishments, a project which has cost £15.3million and brought much anticipation both in the national press and the world of theatre. The opening of the Crucible in 1971 regenerated the city’s struggling arts scene and put it on the map as the home of a renowned production house. Now 40-years-old, it has become iconic to performers and theatre-goers alike and is a national tourist destination.
“It’s a building that people have loved, and for such a long time. People are desperate to get back in here. We had a series of very successful housewarming events in November last year, including an audience with Sir Ian McKellan.”
McKellan has been a long time supporter of the Crucible, having taken part in the theatre’s opening entertainment in 1971 in a performance of Chekhov’s Swan Song with Edward Petherbridge.
I ask Dan what he believes the essence of the Crucible experience is for audiences, and how the refurbishment has tried to improve upon that.
“What is wonderful about the Crucible is that, because of the thrust stage, you are never more than 22 metres from an actor. Now that sounds quite a lot when you say it, but once you’re in there it feels very intimate. It is a classical space, and the actor is under a lot of scrutiny. You can’t fill that space with a massive amount of staging or props. It’s a lot of pressure for them, but in terms of the relationship between audience and actor it is an exciting space.
“In terms of improving the experience, we’re going to make them feel looked after, and treat them in a way they haven’t been given before. We’ve been working with another theatre company, Dead Earnest, doing plays about customer service, and all of our staff have been through that training. We’ve taken over the restaurant just opposite in Tudor Square and called it Crucible Corner, so we can host our audiences. You also get proper Sheffield cutlery there, and there’s not many places you can get that stuff really.”
The main auditorium is closed to us while the cast of An Enemy of the People rehearses, but we are taken on a tour to see the Studio, the Crucible’s second performance space, which offers a similarly intimate encounter between performers and audience members. A new logo has been designed, inspired by the building’s angular seventies design aesthetic. Performers have access to expanded dressing facilities, so they no longer have to race through backstage passages from the other side of the building to reach the Studio stage. The Green Room provides a canteen and break room for members of the cast and crew. A state-of-the-art rehearsal suite has been built that can also handle technical details like lighting, and which will also be able to host workshops, poetry readings and other events.
Out front, the reception and box office have been extensively remodelled to let in more light, outfitted with a plush new carpet, photography prints and contributor artwork. On one wall an eight-line poem stands out in metal, contributed by the late Harold Pinter to the Off the Shelf Festival’s ‘Text in the City’ project. Called Laughter, its provocative imagery curtailed previous plans to project the poem on the outside of the building.
“The money invested has gone toward bringing the theatre’s image and the facilities it offers to audiences and performers up to date, while preserving the iconic features of the building’s heritage. That has been a challenge: the Crucible is an important architectural building because of the thrust stage and the seventies design. It is also listed by English Heritage and we aren’t allowed to touch some things, like the concrete walls along the stairs in the lobby.
“What we have done is make it much more accessible and comfortable for audiences. We’ve improved access for disabled customers and performers by putting in lifts and ramps. The old theatre was also notoriously uncomfortable, and we’ve put in new seating and a cooling system.
Sustainability is also a feature – we’re much more energy efficient, and have used recycled materials. The panels of the box office are made out of recycled £10 notes.”
The thought and passion that has gone into the re-envisioning of the building is evident in the enthusiasm of the Crucible’s management team, and that enthusiasm has also been met by the theatre’s supporters in and outside of the city. Of the £15.3million raised for the project, £300,000 came from donations. ‘We also raised money by selling off the chairs, and pieces of the old carpet. Lots of people wanted a piece of the theatre’s history. They could choose whether they wanted a clean piece or a dirty piece – some people wanted the cigarette burns from the eighties, when people were allowed to smoke during the snooker. One man bought enough to carpet his hallway.’
So what does Dan see as the Crucible’s mission after its two-year hiatus?
“To me it’s about making sure we can do great art. The work we have on stage between the three theatres (the Crucible, Lyceum and Studio) is exciting and the performances are very diverse.
“This week we had older and younger people in the audience for Stomp, and it’s nice to see a performance like that appealing on all levels. An Enemy of the People is a show that is not often done, because it has a big cast. It’s also amusing, and very topical right now – all about political cover-ups.”
An Enemy of the People debued on February 16th.