Pen to Paper Productions: Norman's Ark

ProductionsTheatre

18+

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

3rd September 7.30pm £11.50

https://www.pentopaperproductions.co.uk/news-blog

NORMANS ARK - How far can two men in a room travel? Is it a road to nowhere? Or the trip of a lifetime? Norman hasn’t left his room in over 30 years — he has a head‑full of stories, some true, many not, all of them slightly confused that he shares with a lonely van driver named Tom. Gritty, human, and darkly funny.

TOP PICK

If Not Me

TheatreProductions

16+

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

3rd & 7th September 7.30pm £14/10

“I hold my breath…

I hold my breath until my chest heaves and my lungs scream

and my body pushes me up for air. Then I hold my breath

again.”

If Not Me is a darkly comic psychological exploration of

obsession, faith and the grip of delusion, written and

performed by Boo Jackson (Imagine Me & You, Safe Haven 

at Arcola Theatre).

If you want something

to happen, you have

to make it

happen.

If not me, who?

There is a Light and a Whistle for Attracting Attention

Theatre

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

8th - 13th September 7.30pm £16.50

A woman looks back on a relationship, sifting through love, doubt, and the romantic stories she grew up believing. Funny and unflinching, this one-woman play traces a journey from self-doubt to clarity. Written and performed by Henri Merriam. ★★★★★ "Nothing less than a triumph" (Broadway Baby).

Let Her Liv*

ProductionsTheatre

18+

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

14th & 15th September 7.30pm £12

Let Her Liv*, a UK-premiere play, features an ensemble cast of characters reflecting on their memories of an individual who touched their lives in different ways. Liv - a trans woman who has died suddenly of natural causes - leaves behind unfinished conversations, love with nowhere to go, and most importantly, hope for a brighter future.

 

Abrasion

Theatre

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

16th September 7.30pm £19.50

Abrasion is a hilarious and vital one-woman show, written by and starring up-and-coming talent Meg-Rose Dixon, as our heroine reflects on her diagnosis journey on the anniversary of her surgery. Abrasion is a side-splitting and eye-watering tour de force (and those aren’t just the symptoms) tackling the all-too-common tale of women’s struggles to be heard in the health sphere. With women’s health issues frequently ignored by doctors and health professionals, this is an urgent, funny look at the battle to be believed and to gain an insight into our bodies.

A dark comedy filled with turbulent embarrassing moments, Abrasion is full of comical twists and turns. The show laughs in the face of pain while shedding light on a condition that affects 1.5 million people, but shockingly has an average diagnosis wait time of 7.5 years. The verbatim anecdotes highlight the importance of patient care, the terrible doctors, and a few genuine heroes.

Audience participation. Contains distressing or potentially triggering themes. Strong language/swearing. 

RESSÓ

ProductionsTheatre

16+

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

18th September 7.30pm £10.50

RESSÓ

(or the resonance of a floating rock)

In 1991, Maria cleans hotel rooms in Mallorca as the island transforms around her into one of Europe’s biggest tourist destinations. In 2019, her daughter Carme is living in London when a late-night phone call forces her to make the journey home.

Moving between generations, countries and memories, Ressó is an intimate exploration of motherhood, migration, class, and the invisible labour behind paradise — and of what happens when the place you call home becomes somewhere everyone else comes to escape.

Samsonite Funeral

ProductionsTheatre

16+

About This Event

21st, 22nd & 23rd September 7.30pm £15/10

After a decade of reliable service, Maria’s dutiful travel companion falls apart on the last leg of her flight home, breaking her heart but forced to move forward. Maria’s monologue is paired with a movement ensemble who move in a stylized choreography to the rhythm of the airport. “Samsonite Funeral” explores loss in a place of perpetual departure that closes the gate whether you’re ready or not. A tragi-comedy about the chaos of travel and the painful reminder of the politics involved in migration.

Look Up at the Stars

Theatre

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

24th, 25th & 26th (7.30pm) + 27th (3pm)

It’s the 1980s, and Patricia Meadows, glamorous star of British movies of the Forties and Fifties, has a tell-all memoir which threatens to expose many scandals. But what price will Patricia pay to reclaim her place in show business history?

Stephen and Jessica first worked together on Stephen’s Dr Who story, The Greatest Show in the Galaxy. Their journey continues…

TOP PICK

I Pie With My Little Lie, Something Beginning With Murder

Comedy

16+

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

27th September 7.30pm £14/10

A MURDER by the river.....

A MURDER in the church...

A MURDER in the quiz team...

A MURDER in the book club...

A MURDER in the park...

How are they all connected to a pie shop called the Balaton?

This is Mark’s second solo show, the first one, The Eggman, completed a successful run for

four weeks at The Edinburgh Fringe at Underbelly. This time round the theme is pie and murder and in no particular order. How are they linked? What recipes are used? Most importantly, whether it’s a savoury or sweet pie, something sinister is lurking under the crust, deception will always hold a story waiting to be chomped on. These tales are entwined and held together with lashings of accompanying condiments and there is always room for a second slice.

Mark is a founder member of The Hatchery and has managed the Hen and Chickens Theatre for a very long time. He is enjoying immensely the birth of the Hatchery and cracking all the eggs to help bake new ideas and stories.

★★★★★

“Made me throw my head back so hard with laughter I nearly sustained whiplash … the writing was so splendid it was like Alan Bennett on really good coke.”

Unity Arts

★★★★½

His delivery is terrific, folding the audience into laughter with a single glance… he’s clearly a fantastic actor.

LONDON PUB THEATRES MAGAZINE

★★★★

“I Pie is one of those surprising little gems that crop up within Camden Fringe… an absolute treat”

EVERYTHING THEATRE

Chicken Dropping

ProductionsTheatre

18+

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

28th, 29th & 30th September 7.30pm £13.50

“A cozy, decent kitchen of your dreams, a perfect breakfast, and a war of chickens.”

Yifei and Ming lead a meticulously ordered life in their Qingdao beachfront apartment, watching their neighbour’s chickens engage in a brutal, feathery feud from behind a spotless window. To Ming, a school teacher, the violence is background noise to be ignored; to Yifei, a bank clerk, this war is a market to be exploited, as free-range eggs begin to arrive at their doorstep.

As the couple argue and scheme over this unexpected windfall, the boundary between outside and inside begins to collapse. Chickens invade their home, littering the living room with droppings.

Chicken Dropping is a biting absurdist comedy about those who treat tragedy as opportunity, until the blood and filth of what they’ve monetised crash through their own kitchen window.

When the world turns into a battlefield, how long can you keep your own kitchen clean?

Content warning: Contains references to abuse, animal cruelty & death, with strong language, use of fake blood, sudden noise, and sustained unsettling sound.

TOP PICK

Conflict of Interest

Theatre

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

1st - 3rd October 7.30pm £11.50/9.50

"HONESTY IS A TOOL.

“4 STARS -

A well written, well acted character-driven legal drama, full of twists and surprising

revelations.

This clever play deserves a much bigger audience.”

- Everything Theatre

Following successful runs in London and Yorkshire, Righton Productions returns to The Hen and Chickens Theatre for a brand new legal drama from Thomas Carruthers, directed by Jazmine Sewsanker.

Arthur Carmichael and Mitchell Hargrieve run one of the most successful law practises in Philadelphia; however, when they take on the shocking case of Rita Lempkin, who openly admits that she murdered her real-estate mogul husband, Ralph, things grow tense. Complications grow further with the similarities the Lempkin case shares with that of Lucy Balsam, whom nine years ago Arthur got off when accused of murdering her own father. However, Lucy Balsam has been Lucy Carmichael now for some time. Also in the office is Talia Cooper, a young intern, who is being put at odds as a pawn in the endless power struggle shared by Arthur and Mitch.

Keeping Your Spots

ProductionsTheatre

16+

About This Event

4th, 6th, 7th & 8th October 7.30pm £12.50/10.50

Jared loves his call centre job where the clients all call up wondering the same thing ... Do they want to cheat on their partners?

It's a busy night, but there might be some calls even Jared might find difficult to deal with.

With a controversially neutral take on the subject, this darkly comic play attempts to dissect the reason (or reasons) why people choose to fulfil their darkest temptations.

Written & Performed by Joshua J. Jewkes

Featuring the Voice Talents of Ben Felton, Jessica Ivy, Sara Sioufi, Will Tusker, and Cerys Jones

Audience responses from past WIPs include:

"Funny & emotional. Well written and well acted"

"A brilliant one-man show ... so funny and full of heart!"

Shake it Up: The Improvised Shakespeare Show

ComedyTheatre

16+

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

5th October, 2nd November, 7th December £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

Mara (world premiere)

ProductionsTheatre

18+

The Hen & Chickens Theatre

109 St Paul's Rd London N1 2NA

About This Event

9th, 10th & 11th October 7.30pm plus Q&A, £14/£10.

Newly pregnant Mara is racing against time to reach a make-or-break custody hearing for her eight-year-old daughter when she becomes trapped in the basement of an office building. As panic rises, her psyche fragments: memories, fears and visions begin to blur together. Desperate to make the hearing, she makes a terrible gamble. As the consequences unfold, Mara must confront the dark truth she’s been avoiding - only then will she be set free.