WHAT'S ON at THE HEN AND CHICKENS THEATRE
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WINNER PUB THEATRE OF THE YEAR 2024
Value added tickets: 10% off drinks pre and post show/Keep your ticket for £1.50 off shows for a year
THE HEN & CHICKENS (@TheHenChickens)
(Production company Unrestricted View)
at The Hen & Chickens Theatre Bar
109 St. Pauls Road, Highbury Corner, London, N1 2NA
LOCATION
The Hen and Chickens Theatre is just across the road from Highbury & Islington Tube and Train Station. It's at the intersection between Highbury Corner and St Paul's Road.
Romeo & Juliet: The Hate Story
26th – 31st August 7.30pm £13.50
A brand-new comedy inspired by Shakespeare’s classic—with a twist: Romeo and Juliet despise each other from start to finish.
Set in a modern world where the Capulets and Montagues are rival drug families, this sharp two-person play throws our main characters into a reluctant partnership as they struggle (badly) to survive the chaos of fair Verona. Expect quick wit, fast-paced banter, and absolutely no romance.
CONTENT ADVISORY: strong language, adult themes, violence.
The Bloopers – An Improvised Musical Biopic
4th September 7.30pm £12
The improvised musical that transforms any character you choose into an Oscar-worthy biopic!
“An engaging and coherent plot, complete with heartening life lessons, and collaborating with the audience to adapt and deliver maximum entertainment. With boundless energy, imagination and sharp wits, they can take on any story suggestions offered.” ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ – Everything Theatre
HR at the Bomb Factory
6th September £10
The Office meets Dr. Strangelove in this satirical farce about the UK’s weapons manufacturing industry. A former children’s entertainer breaks into ABC Systems on the day that they are under investigation for corruption. The Clown moves through the building posing as an interview candidate, a senior employee and a bombastic lawyer protecting the company’s interests. As the Clown flips through characters and disguises he ridicules the employees and tries to expose the lies at the heart of Britain’s military-industrial complex. Through physical comedy and interaction with the crowd the audience is pulled into the world of the clown as his actions become more extreme as he probes at our morality. ‘HR’ is inspired by the work of satirists such as Dario Fo and looks to channel his anarchic spirit into a takedown of this sinister industry.
Sketchy Night
7th September 7.30pm £10
Everything is stripped back. The purest form of theatre storytelling, just an actor, a stage and an audience captured in the moment. Vulnerable, honest, exciting theatre.
After the success of our last eight Sketchy Nights, we are super excited to be back for our ninth and this time it’s monologues and duologues! Come on down to the Hen and Chickens Theatre to see our amazing actors perform some awesome new writing!’
The Hatchery
9th, 10th & 11th September 7.30pm £10
Brand new monologues from the team at The Hatchery!
Angela Peters , Athena Atherton, Boo Jackson, Cassia Crimin, Håkan Carlsson, Reneé Donlon, Richard Glover and Mark Lyminster
More details to follow…
Invisible Strings event with Unrestricted View Film Fund Lab.
12th September 7.30pm £10 + £Ghost tickets (Donate to the project if you cannot make it)
You are invited to a movie night fundraiser, for the short film Invisible Strings. An evening about connection. Celebrating love in all its forms, and exploring the heartbreak of losing those we thought we would never have to say goodbye to. The fundraiser will include a curated collection of short films that encompass the themes of love and loss. There will be an industry director Q&A. And of course, will have beverages and snacks available.
We are hoping that this night will help us raise funds to help get our short film into production. Invisible Strings is a short film about the tragic love story of two best friends Ali and Sam; whose plans for forever are destroyed by a freak accident.
It is a love letter to female friendships, and eternal love. This beautiful film is dedicated to all those whose soulmates exist amongst the stars.
The Speakeasy – An Alternative Comedy Night
13th September 7.30pm £9.50
Dim the lights*, light a long thin cigarette** and put one of those fancy foxes*** round your neck, because it’s time for The Speakeasy.
*Don’t touch the lighting desk.
**Absolutely don’t smoke inside.
***Honestly, the show’s not really speakeasy themed at all, it’s just a line-up of funny comedians, please don’t bring a dead fox.
Hormones
14th September 7.30pm £9.50
It’s our time of the month!
Following our sold-out debut scratch event in April, we’re back – and feeling more (w)hormonal than ever! Upper Hand Theatre Co. is bringing the comedy and drama with a fierce lineup of female talent, this time featuring a series of short plays.
Bellend
15th September 4.30pm & 7.30pm £15
A funeral, a wake, an after party. That’s just how it goes right? No it’s not. It shouldn’t be like this. Why does it have to be like this?
We meet James, Chris, Stench and Rory, the day after the heaviest night of their lives. Hungover, confused and grieving, they just can’t seem to help their friend. What will it take to break the cycle?
Twelfth Night
16th, 17th & 18th September 7.30pm
As grief crashes into desire, and disguise becomes dangerous, Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night reveals its darker heart. Viola washes up in a world spinning on fantasy and denial. Orsino is addicted to the idea of love. Olivia wields heartbreak like power. Malvolio is humiliated beyond repair. No one is truly seen – until it’s too late.
Embassy Crisis In Aisle 3
25th September 7pm
(Staged Reading)
In a Battersea corner shop, 7 Brits & Americans- armed with secrets, grudges & clashing personalities- are trapped during a terror scare at the US Embassy next door. Aisles become battlegrounds of diplomacy, betrayal & chaos. Who’ll get out alive…?
This new farce by Thesy Surface is “Clerks” meets “The Studio” meets “Naked Gun.”
choke me
26th & 27th September 7.30pm, 28th September 3pm £12/9
Casandra is suffocating.
Caught between the literal lenses of her husband, who schedules sex based on her cycle, and her lover, who happens to be her stepson (I should probably mention this is a Punishment Without Revenge reimagining), CHOKE ME uses the 2025 world of finance bros and Blackmagic cameras to explore what has brought her here, and what, if anything, can get her out.
Content considerations // depictions of choking & hyperventilation, allusions to domestic and intimate partner violence, strangulation, and the use of sexual language, sporadic use of two monitors with one instance of sped up visuals
Selling Home
30th September & 1st October 7.30pm £21.50, £16.50, £11.50
Selling Home is a scratch night that weaves together six stories which explore the emotional upheaval of selling a family home. From the heartbreak of letting go to the unexpected surfacing of long-buried memories, moving house does not always allow you to move on. Raw, funny, and deeply resonant, Selling Home confronts the painful and cathartic process of saying goodbye to the places that have shaped us.
Show duration: 90 Minutes
Shake it Up: The Improvised Shakespeare Show
6th October, 3rd November & 1st December 7.30pm £13
Shakespeare hasn’t written anything new for an age, so we thought we’d give him a hand. Using his language, your audience suggestions and our overactive imaginations, we create a brand new Shakespeare play live on stage! Join ShakeItUp Theatre for an evening of improvised Bard-based Bedlam. Every show is a classic Shakespeare would have been proud to write…. (probably).
“Quick witted, inexhaustible and absolutely hysterical.” *****
London Theatre Reviews
“A great night out!” ****
Broadway World
“Alas I wishe I had written this myselffe”
Christopher Marlowe
One Day When We Were Young
15th – 18th October 7.30pm £16.50/£13
Bath, 1942. In a dingy hotel room, Leonard and Violet are young and in love. In a few hours from now, their lives will be forever changed.
This tender, poignant and enigmatic love story from Nick Payne premiered at the Crucible Theatre in 2011 and was revived earlier this year at the Park Theatre.
Are Those Pyjamas New
19th – 21st October 7.30pm £11.50
Louise spends her twenties in old pyjamas, but when a crude birthday card sketch heralds the return of an ex-family friend, memories of a murky night unearth old allegations. Siblings clash and loyalties fracture, leaving truth dangerously uncertain. This darkly comic drama explores the grey area of assault and its ripples ten years on.
Delightfully Dark
13th November 7.30pm £13.50
“Fresh, funny and original… might be the most life affirming show you are likely to find this Fringe.” – Brighton Source
Join Victor Von Plume’s hilarious cabaret exploring mortality through song and storytelling. This heartwarming journey into the afterlife blends humor with poignant reflections, celebrating life’s imperfect moments and discovering laughter in the great unknown.
★★★★ “Do not miss it.” – TheatreInBrighton
