Chickenshed Theatre Company

Chickenshed (also known as Chicken Shed or the Chicken Shed Theatre Company) is a British theatre company based in Southgate, London.

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 education courses in inclusive performing arts at BTEC, Foundation Degree and BA (Hons) Levels.

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. 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. 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, while co-founder Jo Collins was awarded the MBE in the 2001 New Year's honours, for Services to Music. Chickenshed has performed at a number of public events, including Queen Elizabeth II's golden jubilee celebrations in 2002. 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.

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