Stirring Up Sheffield
An Insider's Account of the Battle to Build the Crucible Theatre
Colin George
Colin George was the founding Artistic Director of the Crucible Theatre. Born in Pembroke Dock, Wales, in 1929, Colin read English at University College, Oxford, and was a founding member of the Oxford and Cambridge Players. After acting in the repertory companies of Coventry and Birmingham, Colin joined the Nottingham Playhouse in 1958 as Assistant Director to Val May. In 1962, he was appointed as Assistant Director at the Sheffield Playhouse, becoming Artistic Director in 1965. Colin played a leading role in the creation of the Crucible Theatre, which opened in November 1971, and was the Crucible’s Artistic Director from 1971 to 1974.
Colin worked as Artistic Director of the Adelaide State Theatre Company (1976-1980), as Artistic Director of the Anglo-Chinese Chung Ying Theatre Company (1983-1985) and as Head of Drama at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (1985-1992). Colin joined the Royal Shakespeare Company as an actor (1994-96 & 1997-99).
In 2011 Colin was invited by the Crucible’s Artistic Director, Daniel Evans, to join the Company for the 40th anniversary production of Othello. This was to be his last theatrical performance and, fittingly, it took place on the thrust stage he had created. Following Othello, Colin produced the first draft of this book, before his death in October 2016.
Tedd George
Tedd George (aka Dr Edward George), is a writer and economist. Tedd has a PhD in political science from the University of Bristol. His book—The Cuban intervention in Angola, 1965-1991: from Che Guevara to Cuito Cuanavale—was published by Routledge in 2005.
From 2005 to 2011, Tedd worked in the Africa Department of the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), with responsibility for Lusophone and Francophone Africa. Tedd worked as Head of Research and Head of the UK for pan-African bank, Ecobank before setting up his own company, Kleos Advisory Ltd, which provides thought leadership and strategic advisory on African markets. Tedd regularly appears as chair, speaker and moderator on the world conference and webinar circuit, and as a commentator in the media.
Celine's Salon - The Anthology
Volume 1
Celine Hispiche
Celine Hispiche is a London-based writer and performer with a monthly show on Soho Radio that celebrates diverse writing and performance. She spent three years in New York, performing stand-up comedy, returning to the UK to develop a variety of musicals and productions, performing at events and festivals around the country and across the world. Celine devised Celine’s Salon to create a platform that nurtures new and established artists and offers the audience an entertaining and enlightening experience.
A Sense of Theatre
The Untold Story of the National Theatre
Richard Pilbrow
Richard Pilbrow is one of the world’s leading theatre design consultants, a theatre, film and television producer, an author and stage lighting designer. Pilbrow was chosen by Sir Laurance Olivier to the be theatre consultant to the National Theatre of Great Britain and, as part of the building committee, saw the ambitious project from the drawing board to opening night. Pilbrow founded Theatre Projects in 1957, a preeminent theatre consultancy with over 1,800 projects in 80 countries to its credit. Pilbrow consulted on the RSC’s Barbican Theatre, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Crucible Theatre and many other arts buildings in North America, Europe, Hong Kong, China and the Middle East.
A pioneer in modern stage lighting, Pilbrow was the first British lighting designer on a Broadway music, Zorba in 1968, and went on to light Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Rothchilds and Four Baboons Adoring the Sun (1993 Tony Award® nomination). He was lighting designer for the Hal Prince revival of Show Boat on Broadway (1994 Drama Desk Award, Outer Circle Critics Award), in Toronto (1993 Dora Award) and on tour throughout the US (NAACP Award). He lit the Cy Coleman musical The Life (1997 Tony Award® nomination). Pilbrow was lighting designer for Our Town with Paul Newman on Broadway and for the PBS high-definition video. His lighting credits also include Peter Hall’s The Magic Flute in Los Angeles, Seattle & Washington Operas and the 1999 Shakespeare Season at the Ahmanson Theatre. Pilbrow was the lighting design (with Dawn Chiang) for American Ballet Theatre’s Sleeping Beauty at the Metropolitan Opera House and on tour, and A Tale of Two Cities at the Hirschfield Theatre (2008 Drama Desk Award nomination). In 2017, he was the lighting designer for the revival of My Fair Lady directed by Julie Andrews with original designs by Oliver Smith and Cecil Beaton at the Sydney Opera House.
As a theatrical producer, Richard Pilbrow’s partnership with Hal Prince included the West End productions of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, She Loves Me, Cabaret, Company and A Little Night Music. He produced many other theatrical productions and the feature film of Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons, the TV series All You Need is Love—The Story of Popular Music and, with the BBC, Swallows and Amazons Forever.
Outside In
Polly Bull
Polly is a poet, writer and content manager living and working in London. Polly has a PhD in the history of reading and gender from the University of London. A regular at poetry nights such as Celine’s Salon, Poetry LGBT and Speakeasy, their poetry draws on family memory, loss and personal and collective growth.
Minerva and the Whir
Jo D'arc
Jo D’arc is a popular writer, musician, producer/DJ and artist currently based in Glasgow. Jo sings and plays bass guitar in alternative art-punk band The Twistettes and social-commentary-fuelled dystopian gutter rock act Girobabies. She can also be found behind the decks DJ’ing techno/electro music as DJ Jo D’arc or cranking out sassy soul, doo-wop and pristine pop as Jo Jive and the B-Hive 5.
This year, Jo has created a multi-artform project that combines music, photography, poetry and prose to bring to life her love of world mythology. She wanted to create a new myth for Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, poetry and music. Minerva Wakes includes an album of music, visual art and a published book, Minerva and The Whir, a story and poetry to resonate with the world today while diving into abstract fantasy.
