Chickenshed Takes to 1980's Italy with TRUMPETS AND RASPBERRIES

Chickenshed presents Trumpets and Raspberries with a cast including Rob Crouch.

Venue: Chickenshed Chase Side, Southgate, London N14 4PE

Dates: Tuesday 7 February - Saturday 4 March

Times: 7.30pm (apart from 7pm on press night)

Matinees: 1pm and 3.30pm on selected dates

Prices: Previews (7 - 8 Feb) - All tickets £10

Standard Matinee & Evening - £15 (£12 concs) | Schools £10

Peak Matinee & Evening - £18 (£15 concs)

For ages: 11+

To book: Box Office 020 8292 9222, email: bookings@chickenshed.org.uk or book online at www.chickenshed.org.uk

Political Strife. Confusion. Chaos.

No, not the aftermath of a certain referendum in June 2016. This is Italy in the 1980s, the backdrop for Dario Fo's madcap farce Trumpets and Raspberries.

Revolving around a real political figure, Gianni Agnelli, this fictional plot mixes satire with a strong political message. When wealthy Agnelli is injured in a failed kidnap attempt, he is rescued by humble Antonio, one of his employees. Antonio flees the scene when people start shooting at him, leaving his jacket on Agnelli's body. The rich and influential Agnelli is taken to hospital in Antonio's jacket, where he mistakenly has his face reconstructed in the poor Antonio's likeness. Chaotic confusion ensues as Antonio finds himself the chief suspect in a kidnap plot - against himself!

Dario Fo was one of the key figures of European theatre and literature of the 20th and 21st centuries. A writer who 'scourged authority while upholding the dignity of the powerless', he was a thorn in the side of the political elite and ruling classes of Italy and beyond and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1997. This production marks the first major staging of this rarely seen work since his death in October 2016.

Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or to actual current events, is absolutely, purely and totally coincidental!

Rob Crouch opened Oliver Reed: Wild Thing in 2012, a one-man show that he also co-wrote. Over the last four years he won considerable acclaim for his performance as the legendary Reed, touring Britain and Ireland, and enjoying sold-out runs at The Brewery Theatre, Bristol; St James Studio, London and The Ambassadors Theatre in the West End - "A drink sozzled beast of a show" TIME OUT, "A swaggering tour de force" METRO, "Genius" THE DAILY MAIL. Wild Thing was nominated for Best Solo Show at the 2014 WhatsOnStage Awards and THE GUARDIAN's Lyn Gardner selected the show as CRITIC'S CHOICE for "... one hell of a performance from Rob Crouch, who enters wearing a gorilla suit and then manages to take things up a notch." Wild Thing is running at The Kings Head in Islington until 28th January 2017.

As well as portraying Reed on stage, writer and performer Rob Crouch appeared as the notorious hellraiser in BBC's Rack Pack, other recent TV includes Lovesick, Wasted (E4) and Galavant, as Ricky Gervais' manphibean sidekick, Toad. His theatre acting credits include Gonzo in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (directed by Chickenshed's Artistic Director Lou Stein), Pa Ubu in Ubu Disco, and Burke in Burke and Hare. His writing includes, most recently, Trolling at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival, Around the World in Eighty Days, Moll Flanders, The Paranormalists and half of sketch double act Clarkson and Crouch

Cast and production team for Trumpets and Raspberries:

Rob Crouch - Antonio Berardi/Gianni Agnelli

Belinda McGuirk - Rosa Berardi

Lauren Cambridge - Lucia

Daniel Banton - Doctor

Bradley Davis - Magistrate, Policeman, Secret Agent and Orderlie

Ashley Maynard - Inspector

Tiia Makinen - Group Secret Agent Leader/Ordelie

Production Team:

Director - Lou Stein

Set and Costume - William Fricker

Lighting design - Andrew Caddies

Sound design Phil Haines

Production Manager - Zeeta Jacobs

Deputy Stage Manager - Eleanor Dear

Stage Management Team - Miranda Paraskeva, Camilla Direk

Costume Supervisor - Emma Gale

Assistant Costume Supervisor - Rodger Voyle-Harries

Master Carpenter - Mads Miller

Carpenter James Gallagher

Lighting/Sound Operator - Matt Nelson

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