This is what Sheffield people are saying about the new Park Hill flats musical

A new musical inspired by Sheffield’s Park Hill flats has won rave reviews from Star readers.
Richard Hawley.Richard Hawley.
Richard Hawley.

‘Standing At The Sky’s Edge’, by musician Richard Hawley and playwright Chris Bush, charts the lives of a set of Park Hill residents from the 1960s, when the place was constructed, to the present day.

Initial previews of the show, which is having a run at the city's Crucible Theatre, have been favourable and there has been a number of standing ovations.

Richard Hawley.Richard Hawley.
Richard Hawley.
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A number of Star readers have taken to Facebook to express their delight after seeing the performance.

Jill White said she “loved it” and added: “It’s a definite yes from me. Managed to book to go again next week.”

Carol Jenkinson added: “I saw this last Thursday. Absolutely brilliant. Would love to go back to living on Parkhill.”

Issie Dexter  posted: “It was fabulous, so funny but moving too.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The musical starts at three points in the six-decade life of the city’s love-them-or-hate-them Park Hill flats, from the high hopes of the 'streets in the sky’ to when they became an eyesore and, more recently, the regeneration.

Three intersecting stories follow a young steelworker and his wife who move into the new  council estate in 1960, a refugee family who arrive in 1989 to flats in decline and a young professional who is attracted by the Urban Splash Park Hill in 2016 that has seen private owners move in.

The story uses many of the stories that real Park Hill residents told the production team about their lives and memories.

Richard Hawley, who grew up in the Pitsmoor and the Firth Park area, said the setting was a way of telling  the story of all our lives since the war.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said: “We’re telling our British story with using Park Hill as an aperture, an eye on the things within.”

Chris Bush said: “It’s about people and what it is to call somewhere home and who gets to call somewhere home. It can mean lots and lots of different things.”