OPERATION CRUCIBLE to Begin 1 Dec. at Finborough Theatre

Folie à deux Productions and From Ground Up Theatre Company in association with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre present the world premiere of OPERATION CRUCIBLE by Kieran Knowles. Directed by Bryony Shanahan, the cast includes Salvatore D'Aquilla, Kieran Knowles, Joshua Mayes-Cooper, and Paul Tinto. The show runs Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17 December 2013

"Sheffield's on fire, it glows orange, like hell, like a furnace, like steel. The streets which were familiar are now just bricks, mortar and flame. My childhood, my home... just a pile of stone."

The world premiere of a new play, set against the backdrop of the Sheffield Blitz - Operation Crucible, a first play by new playwright Kieran Knowles, plays a limited run of nine Sunday and Monday evening and Tuesday matinee performances from Sunday, 1 December 2013 (Press Night: Monday, 2 December 2013 at 7.30pm).

A story of four ordinary men in extraordinary times...

On the 12 December 1940, more than six hundred 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 500kg bomb reduced the Marples Hotel, which stood proudly in Fitzalan Square, from seven storeys to just fifteen feet of rubble. Only one of the ten compartments in the hotel's cellars withstood the blast. Within it, trapped, were four men. This is their story, from beginning to end...

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 trained at East 15 on the Contemporary Theatre course and is Co-Artistic Director of multi-award winning Snuff Box Theatre. Directing includes Chapel Street (National Tour), Bitch Boxer (Edinburgh Festival, Soho Theatre and National Tour), The Altitude Brothers (Redbridge Drama Centre, Pulse Festival and Brighton Fringe Festival), You and Me (Greenwich Theatre and the Blue Elephant Theatre), The Lift (Etcetera Theatre) and Babies (Southwark Playhouse). Assistant Direction includes The Gruffalo's Child (National Tour) and Bound (Southwark Playhouse and National Tour). Awards include The Argus Angel Award for You and Me and the Holden Street Theatres Award for Bitch Boxer which will see the show transfer to Australia in 2014. Bryony is also a guest director at East 15 Acting School and was recently short-listed for the inaugural Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, Hodgkiss Award.

The cast includes:
Salvatore D'Aquilla trained at LAMDA under the Richard Carne Trust Scholarship. Theatre includes War Horse (New London Theatre) and The Way of the World (Chichester Festival Theatre). Television and Film includes Doctors and ORB.

Kieran Knowles has appeared in The Owl and The Angel (New Wimbledon Studio Theatre), 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 The Exclusion Zone (Southwark Playhouse).

Joshua Mayes-Cooper trained at LAMDA. Theatre includes Chapel Street (National Tour). Television includes Silk, Holby City and Doctors. Film includes Outpost 11 and Effie Gray.

Paul Tinto trained at LAMDA. Theatre includes Chariots of Fire (Hampstead Theatre and Gielgud Theatre), Black Watch (National Theatre of Scotland), Release (Pleasance Edinburgh), Jamie the Saxt (Borderline Theatre Company) and The Odyssey (National Theatre). Television includes Taggart and First Light.

Folie à deux Productions follow their critically acclaimed and OffWestEnd 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 http://from-ground-up.co.uk.

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