Stage set for Yorkshire-premiered play to transfer to top West End theatre

Democracy, one of three plays that made up the Sheffield Theatres’ Michael Frayn season, was seen at the Crucible in March.

The play will open at The Old Vic, one of the West End’s most highly regarded venues, on June 15 and run for a month.

It is the first time a production originating in Sheffield has transferred to London since Fiddler on the Roof was restaged at The Savoy in 2007, after originating at the Crucible.

A London transfer is considered a feather in the cap for a regional theatre. Democracy is the first production to transfer under the tenure of Sheffield Theatres’ current artistic director Daniel Evans.

Mr Evans, an award-winning actor, said: “We are thrilled that Democracy, one of the highly acclaimed plays in our Michael Frayn season at Sheffield Theatres, will be transferring to London – and even more delighted that its new home will be at one of the capital’s most prestigious theatres, The Old Vic.”

Mr Evans began the tradition of hosting a festival of work of a single writer last year, when the three theatres he programmes, Sheffield Crucible, Lyceum and Studio, staged productions of the work of David Hare.

This year Michael Frayn, whose most famous play, Noises Off, recently had a successful revival at The Old Vic, was the writer celebrated.

Alongside Democracy, Sheffield staged his plays Copenhagen and Benefactors.

Mr Evans added: “We are proud to produce high-quality work which attracts audiences from the city, the region and beyond, and it is wonderful that this opportunity will allow us to bring our work to an even wider audience.”

Sheffield has a tradition of seeing work produced in its theatres before being taken to London. In the past decade, alongside Fiddle on the Roof, the theatre saw its production of Don Carlos transfer.

The same cast that appeared in Democracy in Sheffield will appear in the London production and it will be directed by Paul Miller, the man who was in charge of the show in Sheffield and an associate director of the theatre.

The play tells the story of Willy Brandt, the German chancellor and one of the most charismatic leaders in post-war Europe, and his downfall.