Staff at the Trafalgar Studios are undoubtedly egg-cited today as it is announced the theatre will host the West End premiere of off-Broadway hit Chicken.
The gritty New York-set tale will run in the venue’s intimate Studio 2 from 25 June, with a cast including Coronation Street’s Craig Kelly and George Georgiou, whose company, Inner City Productions, is producing the piece.
Chicken tells the story of childhood pals Wendall (Kelly) and Floyd (Georgiou). Wendall and his pregnant wife’s apartment has become a mess of desperate people, with Floyd sleeping on the sofa, and his father, ex-wife and a local hustler all dropping in. But will the sickly rooster they are grooming for a cockfight be their meal ticket?
Written by New Yorker Mike Batistick, Chicken previously ran off-Broadway starring The Sopranos actor Michael Imperioli, who said of the piece: “I loved the play from the first time I read it. I love the way Batistick handles New York: by setting it in this melting-pot environment it reflects any major modern city. The play is of our time, as it is filled with multi-cultural characters put in this pressure-cooker environment.”
The London production of Chicken is directed by Sam Neophytou, who co-founded Inner City Productions with Georgiou and has previously directed Batistick’s Bodega Lung Fat at the Hackney Empire.
Chicken’s run at the Trafalgar Studios follows dark comedy Step 9 (Of 12), which opened at the bijou theatre last week.