REVIEW: Chariots of Fire, Sheffield Crucible

Set during the Paris Olympics in 1924, the drama centres around Harold Abrahams, an ambitious young athlete who arrives at Cambridge with a determination to be the fastest man alive – a claim which may well be thwarted by Eric Liddell, a more unassuming athlete with deeply religious beliefs. But when the two of them are selected for the Olympic team, difficult and personal decisions must be made by them, both in respect of their rivalry and their quest for glory.

It was with some trepidation that I approached a play about running.

After all, I thought, how entertaining can it be watching actors on a treadmill? But what outgoing artistic director Robert Hastie provides is some incredibly inventive staging which makes every race thrilling, exciting and utterly compelling, to the point where I couldn't wait to see how he would stage the next one.

Nestled amongst the thrill of the athletics there is a human drama that unfolds, especially during the second act, filled with tension and a genuine pathos.

The story of friendship and the motivation of what drives each character’s passion for the sport makes for interesting, albeit low stakes, storytelling.

Among a universally strong cast, there are excellent and energetic performances from Adam Bregman and Michael Wallace as the two rivals, along with a couple of scene-stealing turns from Leo Wan and Seb Slade.

The set, and the action, spills out from the stage into the auditorium, bringing the audience into the very heart of the play, and the direction, lighting and sound design keeps the production moving at a frenetic and thrilling pace.

In his final production for Sheffield Theatres, Hastie pulls out all the stops in what is the most complete, polished and outstanding show of his tenure.

I left the theatre having seen one of the better, more exhilarating and visually remarkable shows that there has been at Sheffield Theatres for some time.

Chariots Of Fire is at the Crucible Theatre until July 27, 2024.