Photo: Richard Lakos

CHICKEN DUST

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“Oh this ain’t a farm. This is a loading dock. No such things as farms anymore, not around here.”

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A chicken farm in rural England. New boy Tim has just arrived for his first shift. The job is pretty simple: grab chickens seven at a time by their legs and ram them into cages for shipping. All of this in the dark, stomping around in ankle deep chicken shit, muck and mud. His teammates are old-timers, with cigarettes dangling from their lips and pantyhose up their arms to protect their skin. 

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But the chickens are dying, rotting from the inside out like hot fruit just hours after they arrive. As disease spreads and pressure mounts, enter Oscar, the meticulous poultry inspector.

A hard hitting exploration of the human cost of our enormous appetite for cheap meat.

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Written by Ben Weatherill

Directed By Chelsea Walker

Produced by Hattie Gregory with Neil McPherson for the Finborough Theatre

Design Cecilia Carey

Lighting Jamie Platt

Costume Sarah Mercadé

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★★★★★ "Mark Conway steals the show as Razvan the young Romanian worker who is happy to slave away on a basic wage of £6.50 per hour so he can send money home and dream of going on holiday to Ibiza. His accent is spot on and he very effectively demonstrates a tremendously dark vein of gritty humour in the man." - ReviewsHub

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Winner of the Curve Leicester's Playwriting Competition.

Premiered at The Finborough Theatre in March 2015.

Later performed at Leicester Curve in May 2015.