Writer 'over the moon' at Olivier award win

Chris Bush said she was "grateful" southern audiences had embraced the Sheffield-set musical

The author of Sheffield-based Standing at the Sky's Edge has said she is "over the moon" after it was named best new musical at Sunday's Olivier Awards.

Chris Bush wrote the book for the show which first opened at at Sheffield's Crucible in 2019 and transferred to the National Theatre in February.

It tells the story of three families who live at the Park Hill council estate over a 60-year period.

The music was created by Sheffield singer songwriter Richard Hawley.

Ms Bush told BBC Radio Sheffield how much the award meant.

"We are over the moon, it was an incredible night and I think we are all chuffed."

The show at London's National Theatre closed last week and the writer said she was delighted it had charmed audiences in the capital.

"We are just so grateful that audiences down south have embraced it in just the same way.

"It works in Sheffield because knock down the [theatre] walls and it [Park Hill] is there on your doorstep, but what things like this award show is that it has a proper universal story at the heart of it."

The show is set on Sheffield's Park Hill estate

She said she felt positive the show would return to the stage and there were other projects under way.

"I don't think it is any secret that were are developing a TV project based on the show," she said.

Ms Bush added the show had done "wonders" for her own profile as a writer.

"It has really punched through in a way that shows don't always."

The show is named for Richard Hawley's 2012 album and it is his music that the story is set against.

Mr Hawley also won an Olivier, alongside musical director Tom Deering, for best original score or orchestration for the show.

Spanning 60 years, the musical focuses on three families

Ms Bush said she hoped the success of the musical would show the importance of telling stories about "ordinary people" that matter.

"Those characters are people you might describe as sort of normal people or people who you wouldn't necessarily find in the history books.

"Lives that might seem small at first glance, but actually have this sort of majesty and poetry and tragedy to them and they are all stories worth telling."

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].