Bingley Little Theatre’s 64th season continues with Tim Firth’s The End Of The Food Chain.

Firth is best known in recent years as the writer of the film and stage versions of Calendar Girls, but this play is set in a very different environment – the Kale Moor Grocery Distribution Depot.

This is the ‘animal shift’ where the all-male night-shift workers enjoy rounds of food sports, such as sprout tag, Smartie-and-flan-based tiddlywinks and frozen fish sword fighting.

Sarcastic banter and juvenile humour are plentiful, all under the guidance of Bruce ‘The Games Master’ Kenny. But the dynamic shifts with the arrival of a new employee – a woman who can see through the men’s childish antics to the insecurities and weaknesses beneath.

Director Mervyn Button says: “There are some laugh-out-loud moment, yet there’s an awful lot going on under the main narrative, including some quite dark moments.

“With it being set in a food distribution warehouse, and played out over three levels in the building, we have the challenges of how to make it realistic and move pallets and storage boxes around on the confines of a stage. That’s perhaps why only a handful of amateur companies have done this play over the years.”

For Mervyn, the play covers familiar territory: “For 25 years, I worked in the food distribution industry – although this is Kale Moor Distribution Depot so anything could happen, and it does as audiences will see!”

The cast includes BLT regulars, Bruce Sturrock and Liz Hall, while David Ayres, who has appeared in TV dramas such as A Touch of Frost and Emmerdale, is making his debut with the company.

Last year David appeared in Reservoir Dogs, produced by Bradford’s Tripwire Theatre Company.

The play runs at Bingley Arts Centre from next Monday to Saturday. Ring (01274) 432000.