Finborough Theatre to Present CHICKEN DUST World Premiere, March 1-17

Winner of the Curve Leicester's Playwriting Competition and recently seen as a staged reading at the Finborough Theatre's annual Vibrant -- A Festival of Finborough Playwrights, the world premiere and full length debut of a new playwright, Ben Weatherill's Chicken Dust opens at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of nine Sunday and Monday evening and Tuesday matinee performances from Sunday, 1 March 2015 (Press Night: Monday, 2 March at 7.30pm).

A chicken farm in rural England. New boy Tim has just arrived for his first shift. The job is pretty simple: grab chickens seven at a time by their legs and ram them into cages for shipping. All of this in the dark, stomping around in ankle deep chicken shit, muck and mud. His teammates are old-timers, with cigarettes dangling from their lips and pantyhose up their arms to protect their skin. Feathers cling to clothes. This band of survivors don't want much: just to stay in the countryside, catch the chickens, and earn the best living they can.

But the chickens are dying, rotting from the inside out like hot fruit just hours after they arrive. As disease spreads and pressure mounts, enter Oscar, the meticulous poultry inspector...

A hard hitting exploration of the human cost of our enormous appetite for cheap meat.

Chicken Dust won the Curve Leicester Playwriting Competition, whose judges included Finborough Theatre Artistic Director Neil McPherson, and was also supported by IdeasTap, Writing East Midlands and BBC WritersRoom. The play has been developed through Curve's annual Inside Out programme and festival, created and curated by Associate Director Suba Das, and dedicated to nurturing the very best talent from the region. The play was further developed by the Finborough Theatre in a staged reading at Vibrant 2014 - A Festival of Finborough Playwrights.

Playwright Ben Weatherill trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and was part of the Royal Court Theatre's Young Writer's Programme and Invitation Only Group. Ben is currently the Literary Manager at the Old Red Lion Theatre, as well as Playwright-in-Residence at Curve Leicester. Chicken Dust is Ben's professional debut. His play Tastes like Chicken was longlisted for the Bruntwood Prize 2013 and his short play The Next Five Years was seen at Theatre503. His first television pilot, Scorned, reached the final stage of BBC WritersRoom Script Room 7 competition. Subsequently, Ben was invited to join the Skylight group at this year's BBC Writer's Festival.

Director Chelsea Walker trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama with an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice and at Oxford University. Direction includes Lean (Tristan Bates Theatre), Bespoke (Southwark Playhouse), Ocean of Loneliness (Lost Theatre), Citizens (Theatre503), Occupied (Bad Host at the Bush Theatre). Assistant Direction includes assisting Simon Godwin on Routes (Royal Court Theatre), The Little Mermaid (Bristol Old Vic) and Candida (Theatre Royal Bath) and Amelia Sears on Brimstone and Treacle (Arcola Theatre). Chelsea Walker is currently a reader for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and Hampstead Theatre.

DETAILS:

PRESS NIGHT: MONDAY, 2 MARCH 2015 AT 7.30PM
PHOTOCALL: MONDAY, 2 MARCH 2015 AT 5.00PM-5.30PM

Finborough Theatre, 118 Finborough Road, London SW10 9ED
Box Office 0844 847 1652
Book online at www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk

Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 March 2015
Sunday and Monday evenings at 7.30pm. Tuesday matinees at 2.00pm.
Performance Length: Approximately 90 minutes with no interval.

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