OPERATION CRUCIBLE Set for Finborough Theatre

Commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Sheffield Blitz, and the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, Operation Crucible, the debut play by Kieran Knowles, opens for a four week limited season at the Finborough Theatre from Tuesday 28 July - Saturday 22 August.

Press Nights: Thursday 30 July and Friday 31 July at 7.30pm

A story of four ordinary men in extraordinary times... On the 12 December 1940, more than 600 people lost their lives in over seven hours of continuous bombing by Germany's Luftwaffe. Their objective? Wiping Sheffield's world famous steel works - the heartland of Britain's munitions manufacturing - clean off the map. The ruthless attack left Sheffield in ruins - destroying families, shattering a way of life, and changing the city forever.

At 11.44pm on the night of the raid, a single bomb reduced the Marples Hotel, which stood proudly in Fitzalan Square, from seven storeys to just 15 feet of rubble. Only one of the 10 compartments in the hotel's cellars withstood the blast. Within it, trapped, were four men. This is their story, from beginning to end...

Previously seen as a sold out Sunday/Monday/Tuesday run at the Finborough Theatre in December 2013, Operation Crucible returns to London following an acclaimed National Tour.

Playwright Kieran Knowles makes his professional playwriting debut with Operation Crucible. He is a graduate of Loughborough University, LAMDA, and the Royal Court Young Writers Programme.

Director Bryony Shanahan is co-artistic director of Snuff Box Theatre. Directing includes Boys Will Be Boys (National Theatre), Bitch Boxer (Soho Theatre, UK tour and Adelaide Fringe Festival), Quiet Violence (Camden Roundhouse),Macbeth (East 15 Acting School), Chapel Street (National Tour), You and Me (Greenwich Theatre and National Tour), The Altitude Brothers (National tour), Doctor Faustus (St Mary Magdelene Church, Paddington) and Babies (Southwark Playhouse). In 2014, Bryony won a BBC Performing Arts Award to work at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, where she assisted on Sarah Frankcom's Hamlet with Maxine Peake as well as developing new Snuff Box piece Weald. She returned in 2015 as Associate Director on The Skriker as part of the Manchester International Theatre Festival. Other work includes Connections Director for the National Theatre Connections Festival, teaching at East 15 Acting School, Assistant Director on Around The World In 80 Days (New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, and Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester) and Associate Director on The Gruffalo's Child (Arts Depot on North American tour). Bryony trained on The National Theatre Studio Directing Course and at East 15 Acting School.

The cast includes:

Salvatore D'Aquilla trained at LAMDA under the Richard Carne Trust Scholarship. Theatre includes War Horse (New London Theatre), Still Life and Red Peppers (Old Red Lion Theatre) and The Way of the World (Chichester Festival Theatre). Television and Film includes Doctors and ORB.

Kieran Knowles has appeared in The Bear, The Owl and The Angel (New Wimbledon Studio),The Winter's Tale, The Taming of the Shrew (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Witches' Promise (Birmingham Rep), Waiting For Lefty (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Darkness

(Lakeside Theatre, Colchester, and Edinburgh) and The Exclusion Zone (Southwark Playhouse).

Paul Tinto trained at LAMDA. Theatre includes Claustrophobia (To The Moon Theatre Company, Zoo, Edinburgh), Chariots of Fire (Hampstead Theatre and Gielgud Theatre), In Time O' Strife, Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland), Release (Icon Theatre

Company), Jamie the Saxt (Borderline Theatre Company) and The Odyssey (National Theatre). Television includes Outlander ,Taggart and First Light).

James Wallwork trained at LAMDA. Theatre includes Darkness (Lakeside Theatre, Colchester, and Edinburgh) and My Beautiful Laundrette (Above The Stag Theatre). Television includes Casualty and Doctors. Film includes Nightstand, A Thousand Empty Glasses and VP.

Folie à deux Productions follows their critically acclaimed and Off West End Award nominated productions of Summer and Smoke (Southwark Playhouse), I Am A Camera (Southwark Playhouse) and Still Life and Red Peppers (Old Red Lion Theatre) with their first production of new writing, together with new company From Ground Up Theatre Company www.from-ground-up.co.uk.

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