Photo Flash: In Rehearsal for CHICKEN SOUP at Sheffield Theatres

'Well, no point moping round is there?'

1984. Five days after Orgreave.

Three women keep a struggling mining community standing, running a soup kitchen near the pit heads of Rotherham.

2016. The day of the Brexit vote.

The breadline is no further away and the soup kitchen is now a food bank, as the country faces a huge decision.

A witty, poignant new play from local writers Ray Castleton and Kieran Knowles (Operation Crucible), Chicken Soup celebrates the friendships that survive the hardest of times.

Sheffield Theatres will partner with local foodbanks to collect items for distribution during the run of Chicken Soup.

Judy Flynn returns to Sheffield Theatres where she previously appeared in Roger Haines production of When We Are Married (Crucible Theatre). Her other theatre credits include East is East (Northern Stage and Nottingham Playhouse), Emil and the Detectives (National Theatre), A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Library Theatre Manchester) and Shang-a-lang (Chichester Festival Theatre). Her television credits include The Brittas Empire, No Angels, The House of Eliott and First of the Summer Wine.

Jo Hartley makes her stage debut in Chicken Soup. Her television credits include Bliss, Vera, Not Safe for Work, This is England '90, Cut, Mimic, Law & Order, Little Bastards, Coming Up, This is England '88, The Jury, Stolen and This is England '86. Her film credits include Slaughterhouse Rulez, David Brent: Life on the Road, Access All Areas, Eddie the Eagle, Prevenge, Ill Manors, Speak No Evil, Inbred, Laid Off, Crying With Laughter, Soul Boy, The Young Victoria, This is England and Dead Man's Shoes.

Remmie Milner's recent theatre credits include Terror (Lyric Hammersmith and Brisbane Arts Festival), The Winter's Tale, To Kill A Mockingbird, Chip Shop The Musical (Octagon Theatre), Plastic Figurines (Box of Tricks national tour), The Pier (Oxford Playhouse), Melody Loses Her Mojo (Liverpool Playhouse). Her recent television credits include Electric Dreams, Save Me and Trollied.

Samantha Power's theatre credits include Beryl, Me As a Penguin, Coming Around Again, Accrington Pals (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Zack (Manchester Royal Exchange), Little Britain Live (UK and Australian tours) and Flint Street Nativity (Liverpool Playhouse). Her television credits include Ackley Bridge, Shameless, The Mimic, Wolfblood, Ordinary Lies, Little Britain, Come Fly With Me, A Prince Among Men and Coronation Street. Her film credits include Mischief Night and The Lowdown.

Simone Saunders's theatre credits include Darkness Darkness (Nottingham Playhouse), Jane Eyre (Bristol Old Vic and National Theatre), American Trade, Morte D'Arthur, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, The Grain Store, The Winter's Tale, Julius Caesar (Royal Shakespeare Company), Carnival (Talawa Theatre Company) and The Red Ladies (National Theatre). Her television credits include The Royals.

Kieran Knowles was nominated for Most Promising New Playwright for his first play, Operation Crucible. He is a graduate of Loughborough University, LAMDA and the Royal Court Young Writer's Programme. As an actor his work includes Toast (UK tour and New York), Operation Crucible (Finborough Theatre and UK tour), 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).

Director Bryony Shanahan is Co-Artistic Director of Snuff Box Theatre. She returns to Sheffield Theatres where she previously directed Operation Crucible. Her other directing credits include 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, she 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 to the Royal Exchange Theatre in 2015 as Associate Director on The Skriker as part of the Manchester International Theatre Festival.

Shanahan was also awarded the 2016 Young Vic Genesis Future Directors Award.

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