Chicken!: New revised 2020 version

New revised 2020 version

It's Christmas. Tammy and Chris, cousins and best mates, are both thrilled to get cool new bikes. Give or take the odd unworn cycle helmet everything is great... that is until one morning when Chris has a puncture and Tammy agrees to walk with him. They’re late and in a hurry. They decide to race. Chris runs out across a busy main road and then flips open his smart phone to dare Tammy to do the same in front of a fast-approaching car...

Chicken! has been performed 5,876 times, averaging nearly one performance a day since the original version was written in 1992.

This new 2020 version includes many updated references, a brand-new foreword by Adrian New, of StopWatch Theatre Company, more funny lines and a new decision for the actor to make at the end!

Suitable for: Key Stage 2 audience. Key Stage 3, 4, 5 performance, BTEC course as part of the TiE unit (a companion DVD/download showing the complete professional TiE programme is also available)


Duration: 45 minutes approximately


Cast: The play has 9 main characters: 4 male, 3 females and 2+ of either sex.
It can be doubled by 2m 2f 

“A powerful play with a surprising twist.”

Charles Vance, Amateur Stage



“[The] performance was lively, skilful, well-paced and enjoyable. Excellent participation, explored lots of issues pertinent to Year 7, including bullying and peer pressure as well as road safety.”

Mrs S Scantlebury, Head of Year 7, Chipping Norton School, Oxfordshire

Mark Wheeller began writing whilst a student at Marlwood Comprehensive School, Bristol.

After teaching drama for thirty-six years he retired in July 2015 to concentrate on writing and delivering Drama/Theatre workshops to students and teachers across the world.

Mark is one of the most-performed playwrights in Britain. Too Much Punch For Judy has been performed over 6,000 times and Chicken nearly 6,000. Missing Dan Nolan and Hard to Swallow are both set texts for the GSCE Drama 9-1 exams. His work has been a staple part of the Drama curriculum both in the UK and abroad for the past three decades.

Professional productions of Hard to Swallow, I Love You Mum, I Promise I Won’t Die and Chicken regularly tour schools and many of Mark’s works are available on DVD, with digital formats forthcoming in late 2020. 

His study guides include Drama Schemes, The Story Behind Too Much Punch For Judy, Drama Club & Hard to Swallow – Easy to Digest.

He has three children and lives just outside the New Forest, with his wife Rachael, and Labrador, Dusty.