Actors to star in three plays at once for Sheffield Theatres' 50th birthday

The Sheffield Crucible is next to its sister venue the Lyceum

An ambitious new trilogy of plays will ask its actors to sprint between three theatres as they attempt to perform in all three at the same time.

Rock/Paper/Scissors is three standalone but connected plays that will be staged simultaneously at the Sheffield Crucible, Studio and Lyceum theatres.

The complex's artistic director Robert Hastie said he wanted "a big challenge" for its 50th birthday in 2022.

"It's going to be a busy time for the actors," he said.

Whereas an actor will normally wait in their dressing room between scenes, Rock/Paper/Scissors will require them to hot-foot it straight to one of the two neighbouring venues.

A lot of spreadsheets

The stars won't have to run too far, though. The Crucible and Studio are in the same building, while the Lyceum is next door.

"The actors won't be going into backstage mode because an exit from one play is an entrance directly into another, with a short sprint between rooms," Hastie said.

The cast has not yet been announced but Hastie and playwright Chris Bush are currently working out how to ensure the same actors can appear in three plays at the same time.

"We've done a lot of spreadsheets and we've done a lot of sprinting between theatres, but until we actually get the actors in rehearsal, there's a lot that we've yet to discover," he said.

Immaculate timing

The three parts of Rock/Paper/Scissors will follow three generations of a family exploring what to do with an old scissor manufacturing factory in the Steel City.

Even the rehearsal process is a logistical headache. "We're going to have to set up our rehearsal rooms so the time to get between them is exactly the same as the time to get between the stages," Hastie said.

"If that timing isn't exactly right, then the whole thing won't work. Even if it means going up an extra staircase and back down another, we'll have to create a route [between rehearsal rooms] that's exactly the same distance as between the stages.

"The precision of it will have to be immaculate. Chris is building in some space and some failsafe mechanisms within the scenes, but the whole thing will have to operate like a machine."

Rock/Paper/Scissors will be the centrepiece of Sheffield Theatres' 50th anniversary season, which will also include the return of Bush's collaboration with musician Richard Hawley, Standing at the Sky's Edge.

Also following three Sheffield generations, the musical will then transfer to the National Theatre in London.

Sheffield Theatres' three auditoria have a total capacity of 2,500 - the same as the National's three venues.

"For the rest of the year, all three theatres will be doing very different things, making a really broad, diverse variety of work," Hastie said. "It's just nice in the centre of our anniversary year to bring them together for the first and probably the only time in their history."