Chickenshed

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Chickenshed (also known as Chicken Shed or the Chicken Shed Theatre Company) is a British theatre company based in Southgate, London. It is a company that makes beautiful and inspirational theatre.

By bringing together people of all ages and from all backgrounds, Chickenshed creates outstanding theatre that entertains, inspires, challenges and informs both audiences and participants alike. Their vision is a society that celebrates diversity and enables every individual to flourish.

Chickenshed has been working with children, young people and adults for the past 42 years and has grown from a small group of enthusiastic young performers, working in a disused chicken shed, to a vibrant Company with an international reputation. Through their membership and education work, network of outreach programmes and branch in Kensington & Chelsea, Chickenshed supports over 1,000 children and young people every week.

Chickenshed’s membership programme comprises four Children’s theatre groups and two Youth theatre groups for young people aged 5–21 years. They run Saturday and holiday workshops for ages 5–12 years and performance and singing workshops for adults. They also operate highly successful education courses in inclusive performing arts at BTEC, Foundation Degree and BA (Hons) Levels. The courses have been rated ‘Outstanding’ by OFSTED.

Chickenshed's work incorporates many varied performing arts activities, and participants develop skills in acting, music and dance, as well as building a range of life skills such as teamwork, leadership, adaptability and interpersonal skills.

For more information about Chickenshed please visit http://www.chickenshed.org.uk/

Chickenshed was founded by teacher Mary Ward and singer/composer Jo Collins in 1974. It began in a disused chicken barn in Barnet, which is how it came to be called Chickenshed. Mary Ward started teaching in 1966 and was struck by how much better the children she taught could be reached through drama than any other subject and those who struggled in other fields shone in an environment where the work was created to fit those taking part rather than vice-versa.[1] Chickenshed has a purpose built theatre complex in Southgate. The theatre has four performance spaces: The Rayne Theatre which seating 300, a smaller Studio Theatre, and Amphitheatre and a Bar/restaurant that regularly hosts music and comedy evenings. They also have a branch in Kensington and Chelsea. Since 2000, Chickenshed has established 19 'Sheds' in the UK and two in Russia. These Sheds have been set up and trained by Chickenshed but then go to run independently, linked to Chickenshed by a shared vision of inclusive practice and philosophy. We are always looking for organisations or consortiums of organisations to work with us to establish new 'Sheds' / inclusive community theatre groups.[2] Chickenshed is registered as a charity under the name The Chickenshed Theatre Trust. In 1996, company founder Mary Ward was awarded the MBE for Services to the Arts followed in 1999, with a Creative Britons Award, to acknowledge her 25 years of work with the theatre,[3] while co-founder Jo Collins was awarded the MBE in the 2001 New Year's honours, for Services to Music.[4] Chickenshed has performed at a number of public events, including Queen Elizabeth II's golden jubilee celebrations in 2002.[5] A show to commemorate 100 years of J. M. Barrie's children's story Peter Pan was staged by the theatre company at the Albery Theatre, London in 2004, in order to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital.[6]

Chickenshed appointed Lou Stein http://www.loustein.co.uk/ as its Artistic Director on 4 April 2016. Lou will be leading the hugely talented team of theatre-makers within the company.

Lou is a highly experienced theatre professional, and is hugely respected as a director and writer. He is perhaps best known as the founder of the Gate Theatre (London) in Notting Hill. Lou also served as an inspirational and extremely successful Artistic Director at Watford Palace Theatre, establishing it as one of the country’s most successful repertory theatres. He has most recently worked as a freelance director and writer, with notable successes including Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (2014-15).

Chickenshed is delighted to welcome Lou. Throughout his career, he has consistently placed inclusion and the community at the heart of his work – there is a tremendous synergy of philosophy and practice. His energy, enthusiasm, courage and vision will build on the company’s strengths and challenge the organisation to evolve to meet its ambitions for the future. Lou will support the expansion of Chickenshed’s external reach, sharing even more widely its model of ‘theatre changing lives’ - demonstrating how inclusion remains an unexploited opportunity to build a better world.


Music

The first musical writers for Chickenshed were Jo Collins and Anthony Filby, who together formed Colby music, through which they published a collection of musicals that Chickenshed performed. The music team has since greatly expanded. In December 1997, Chickenshed released a single, entitled "I Am In Love With The World", performed by children from the theatre. At bookmaker's odds of 4/1, the song was one of the contenders to become the UK Christmas number-one single.[7] However it reached only #15 in the chart, remaining in the Top 75 for six weeks.[8] The song was included on Diana, Princess of Wales: Tribute, a charity album recorded following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Diana had been the royal patron of the theatre along with Dame Judi Dench who is also a great supporter and it was one of her favourite charities.[3][9]

Late 2003 saw the release of The Chicken Shed Album, a compilation that marked the 30th anniversary of the theatre company. Contributors to the album included supporters of the organisation, such as Cliff Richard, Emma Bunton, Bob Hoskins and Kenneth Branagh, as well as three tracks by Chicken Shed itself. Jo Collins & Chickenshed recorded a song, "Talk Through Me" for the 2007 show tunes album Over the Rainbow, in aid of The Association of Children's Hospices.

Discography

8thNote.svgThis list of songs or music-related items is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

"Have A Heart At Christmas" (single, 1994)

  1. "Have A Heart At Christmas"
  2. "Rhapsody In Blue" (featuring Larry Adler)
  3. "I'll Build A Stairway To Paradise" (featuring Larry Adler & Issy van Randwyck)

"I Am In Love With The World" (single, 1997)

  1. "I Am In Love With the World"
  2. "Don't Know If I Believe In Christmas"
  3. "Little Tommy"
  4. "Chicken Menace"

The Chicken Shed Album (album, 2003)

  1. "Watch Me Come Alive" - Cliff Richard
  2. "As Far as the Eye Can See" - Gabrielle
  3. "I Am In Love With the World" - Chicken Shed
  4. "Sometimes" - Emma Bunton
  5. "The Wedding Dance" - Dmitry Sitkovetsky
  6. "Can I Love Him?" - Sam Brown
  7. "Bits and Pieces" - Bob Hoskins
  8. "Trail My Soul" - Chicken Shed
  9. "Looking For Love" - Richard O'Brien
  10. "Will It Happen To Me?" - Barbara Dickson
  11. "Elijah" - Kenneth Branagh
  12. "First Love" - Chicken Shed
  13. "Mad Little Sad Boy" - Kenneth Branagh
  14. "Still Waters" - Misty Oldland
  15. "We Need Each Other" - Elaine Paige
  16. "Dream a We Real Yew" - Kenneth Branagh

References

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External links

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