A CHAINSAW wielding chicken is the star of a fabulously updated traditional nursery tale created for children and their parents, in this year’s Christmas production at The Berry Theatre.

The Little Red Hen is the hit family- friendly puppet show from Stuff and Nonsense Theatre Company performed by Maria Gray and Gareth Price-Baghurst and directed by leading early-years performance expert and award-winning theatre maker Niki McCretton.

Actor, dancer, acrobat and puppeteer Maria Gray trained at East 15 Drama School and Flic Circus School in Turin Italy. Her many theatre credits include The Machine Stops, York Theatre Royal/Pilot Theatre directed by Juliet Forster; Nurse/Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Orange Tree Theatre and the European Tour of Outdoor Festivals with self-created solo show Motor Mouth. For television Maria has appeared in the O2 commercial directed by Rocky Morton and for film Irreparable directed by Martin Gooch.

Gareth Price-Baghurst graduated from Coventry University in 2011 and has since toured the UK extensively, working in a variety of theatre styles and for a number of UK theatre companies including Wooden Spoons Theatre, Rusticus Theatre and Handmade Theatre. Gareth is very passionate about live music and puppetry in theatre and co-manages his own outdoor touring theatre company The Fabularium.

Featuring a Pig with an iPod, a Rat with a mobile phone and a lazy Cow with a fake tan, the star of this show is a hardworking Red Hen who wants to make her own bread but can’t get anyone to help her. Cutting the corn is a particularly big task for such a small bird and she has to use a variety of amazing tools, including a pair of garden shears and a crazy puppet chainsaw to achieve her goal. This production features live music, hugely lovable and ingenious puppets and a fantastically eccentric bread-making machine!

Roger Malone of The Stage newspaper said: “I wish I was five again. Then I could let out unselfconscious whoops of hilarity and yelps of excitement. As it is, watching this delightful piece of theatre unfold, is almost enough to liberate adult inhibitions….A truly enchanting hour for children - and their parents.”

The Little Red Hen runs from December 17- 24. Tel: 023 8065 2333 for more details on dates and performance times and to book tickets or visit www.theberrytheatre.co.uk