Chicken Soup at Sheffield Crucible

Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor

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Chicken Soup

9 February-3 March 2018

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Chicken Soup at Sheffield Crucible
Sheffield Theatres
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This brand-new play receives its world premiere at Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre in February and is one of our top picks. Chicken Soup is a poignant and witty drama written by Kieran Knowles (Operation Crucible) and Sheffield’s own Ray Castleton.

Kieran Knowles most recently acted in his self-written play Operation Crucible – the true story of four men who were trapped inside the Marples Hotel, Sheffield in the catastrophic blitz of 12 December 1940. Described as being ‘poetic and powerful’ in The Stage – the play was well received by the Northern crowd when it was performed at the Crucible studio, just yards away from where the damage occurred 70 years earlier. Resonating deeply with the people of Sheffield, these are powerful stories that are deeply woven into Northern culture and history.

Now, Knowles turns his focus to the three South Yorkshire women who kept a Yorkshire mining town standing through hard times. With a marvellous team of creatives which includes Bryony Shanahan (Royal Exchange, MIF, National Theatre) at the helm as director – Chicken Soup has all the trappings of a superb show.

Chicken Soup tells the story of three women who set up and ran a soup kitchen near the pitheads of Rotherham. The kitchen was set up in the midst of the miner’s strikes of 1984, in a bid to keep a struggling mining community going. The soup kitchen continued to run for thirty-two years.

Fast forward to 2016 – the day of the Brexit vote. The breadline is still upon the community and the soup kitchen of 1984 has now been turned into a food bank. The whole country faces a massive decision.

Chicken Soup celebrates the ups and downs, solidarity through disparity and those friendships that manage to survive the hardest of times.

Where to go near Chicken Soup at Sheffield Crucible

Graves Gallery
City Centre
Gallery
Graves Gallery

Graves Gallery is home to Sheffield’s visual art collection, with a permanent collection and temporary exhibitions arranged across eight galleries.

Millenium Gallery Sheffield
City Centre
Gallery
Millennium Gallery

Hosting major exhibitions by artists renowned both locally and internationally, Millennium Gallery is the cultural gateway to Sheffield.

The Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
City Centre
Theatre
The Lyceum Theatre

Built to a traditional proscenium arch design, Sheffield’s Lyceum is the only surviving theatre outside of London designed by architect W.G.R. Sprague.

Sheffield
Shop
Juno Books

Friendly local queer and intersectional feminist bookshop in Sheffield. Visit for interesting fiction and non fiction books.

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Sheffield
Event venue
Hope Works

An old WW1 gun-barrel-factory reimagined and repurposed as a hub of Sheffield’s creativity, with music and art events regularly put on.

Sheffield
Restaurant
Oisoi

A high-quality pan-Asian restaurant in Sheffield’s city centre, Oisoi is worth a visit to the Steel City right now.

The Sheffield Tap
City Centre
Bar or Pub
The Sheffield Tap

With a wide range of craft beers and its very own on-site microbrewery, Sheffield Tap is uniquely housed within a restored railway station.

Showroom Workstation
City Centre
Cinema
Showroom Workstation

Sheffield’s premier arts centre houses an established independent cinema along with an entrepreneurial hub for creative and digital industries.

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