Written by the Crucible Theatre’s first Artistic Director, Colin George, and his son, Tedd, with foreword by Ian McKellen, Stirring Up Sheffield is the extraordinary story of a group of visionaries who came together to build a revolutionary thrust stage theatre in Sheffield. The radical design they proposed for the auditorium—which redefined the actor/audience relationship—aroused fierce opposition from Sheffield’s conservative quarters and several of the era’s theatrical luminaries. But it also galvanised a new generation of Britain’s actors, directors, designers and playwrights who launched a passionate defence of the thrust stage and its theatrical potential.

Winner of the 2022 Theatre Book Prize by Society for Theatre Research.

“Adventures need heroes and here its principal one is Colin George, the first artistic director of The Crucible Theatre, who in this memoir recalls in fascinating detail how, aided by others locally and internationally, a dream came true. Here, too, there are troublesome villains, who failed to share our hero’s imagination and determination.”

Ian McKellen

"An extraordinary book."

Michael Billington, The Guardian

'Here’s a book that will become a collector's item...'

David Poole in The Sheffielder