Exploring Sheffield’s entertainment heritage requires determination.  Apart from the two operational theatres, the Lyceum (1897) and the Crucible (1971), access to the remaining auditoria is difficult but not impossible.  There are several rich archives in the city at Sheffield Libraries & Archives and in both universities.

These topic-specific starting points can bring the local entertainment industry to life for twenty-first century students:

History:

• changing tastes in leisure
• Sheffield in feature-films (cf English/Drama/Media Studies)
• historic buildings lost and found

Geography:

• property and business development

English/Drama/Media Studies:

• Sheffield performers – actors, musicians, writers
• Sheffield in feature-films (eg, The Full Monty, Threads) and plays (The Stirrings in Sheffield on Saturday Night, Standing at the Sky’s Edge)
• changing habits in media – music-hall, theatre, cinema, radio, television, internet

Field-work opportunities:

• Lyceum and Crucible Theatre building tours

NB:  Both Sheffield’s listed cinema buildings, the Abbeydale Picture House and the Adelphi Cinema, Attercliffe, are at present inaccessible for structural reasons.