UK Theatre Network

Has Manchester’s fringe theatre scene ever been in finer fettle?  A testament to its vigour is that among the numerous pantomimes, musicals and children’s shows which infest the city’s venues at this time of year there is still an enthusiastic audience for a brand new play, presented in the tiny space at the top of The Lass o’ Gowrie by young company Hazel Tree Productions.

Playwright Chris Dance puts a cynical spin on the season of goodwill by setting his comedy in Britain’s grottiest Santa’s Grotto, where put-upon shop-girl Laura (endearingly played by a starry-eyed Hazel Earle) is contractually obliged to wear the stripy stockings, fluffy red boots and pointy felt hat of one of Santa’s Little Helpers.

Her peaceful lunchtime sandwich among the sacks of presents, stuffed reindeer and fairy lights is interrupted by co-worker Julie (hilariously lairy Emma Laidlaw), who has disguised herself as an elf and fled the lingerie department for a natter with her friend, even though their manager has already tried to separate her from Laura for being a “bad influence”.

Chris Dance explores the girls’ fundamentally different natures with tart characterisation and plenty of wit - Julie is the party-loving singleton who stashes gin, brandy and half-eaten kebabs in her handbag, while romantically-thwarted Laura is the kind of person who revises for a game of Trivial Pursuit after the Queen‘s Speech.  Their tête-à-tête is interspersed with fleeting appearances from Father Christmas himself - David Slack’s downbeat northern Santa is straight out of The Last of the Summer Wine, and his white curly wig wouldn’t disgrace Lady GaGa.  And Mike Seal as Clive, the unworldly Elvis-obsessed busker, tops and tails the story beautifully, ending with a rousing sing-along.

Director Jake Murray - late of The Royal Exchange, where he was responsible for the excellent Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and A Conversation - makes a welcome return to Manchester with this sweet and funny production.

Early booking is recommended, as tonight was sold out.  May I also advise bringing a shoe-horn and a plunger - one for squeezing into your seat with at the beginning, and the other to extricate yourself at the end.

Grotto is on at The Lass o’ Gowrie, 36 Charles Street, Manchester M1 7DB until Saturday 17 December 2011
Tickets:  £6 from www.ibookedit.com
Performances: Thurs & Fri @ 7pm & 9pm; Sat @ 4pm & 7pm
www.hazeltreeproductions.co.uk
www.thelass.co.uk

Steve Wood’s new play is a poignant portrayal of two lonely people trying to find some meaning for their existence.

The scene  opens with an elderly woman, Ada, sitting on a park bench eating a takeaway: “One pound twenty for a penn’orth of chips – they want locking up”.  A formidable handbag is gripped tightly across her chest as both shield and weapon, and we can tell her emotions are buttoned up as tightly as her coat. 

The entrance of a whiskery tramp, Tommy, shouting and swearing as he swigs from a bottle, does nothing to improve Ada’s mood.  Despite her rebuffs Tommy seems determined to strike up a conversation, and as the two mismatched pensioners tentatively swap details about their empty lives a fragile bond forms between them. 

The ebullient and energetic David Milne makes Tommy – initially an aggressive and unappealing old wino – into a funny, charming and sympathetic figure.  His uninvited overtures of friendship hide a desperate craving for companionship; he even chats to the local stray dogs.  It’s a shame that his character is underused, lapsing into a sounding board for Ada’s monologue.

Pat Brocklehurst’s authentic local accent and deadpan delivery are perfect for Steve Wood’s warm and amusing northern dialogue, although Ada’s attitudes to decimalisation, cappuccinos and public phone boxes are so out of date I thought she must have been in prison for the last forty years.

Director Laura Vorwerg does an excellent job of making an everyday conversation into a moving drama, and designer Victoria Vernon has magically transformed the basement of Taurus Bar on Canal Street into an autumnal park.  As well as the typical wooden bench and green slatted rubbish bin, there’s a thick carpet of leaves which covers the entire floor.  As the musty smell of leaf-mould perfumes the room and the leaves crackle underfoot you really feel as if you’re in that park with Ada and Tommy.  It’s indicative of the company’s attention to detail that they go beyond mere set decoration to create a sensually immersive experience for their audience.

You’re Never Too Old
Presented by Organised Chaos Productions
Touring to Levenshulme Festival (31 October) and
Smiths Restaurant, Eccles (30 Nov & 1 Dec)
Tickets: £7.50/£5.50 (conc)
Further details from:
www.organisedchaosproductions.co.uk

Playwright Nicola Schofield was one of the earliest talents to emerge from the Royal Exchange/Bruntwood new writing competition with her script, Maybe Tomorrow.  Now award-winning theatre company Organised Chaos Productions has seized the opportunity to stage her latest piece, a tense drama called Peacefully at Home.

A lingering and painful deathbed is the classic situation which has brought together a sundered family, leading to scenes of conflict as long-buried secrets come to the surface.  Bridget, the seemingly devoted wife of the dying man, is joined by her old friend Una; and practical, stay-at-home son Chris meets up with his very different brother, James, who in spite of being the dreamer was the one who escaped from the country to the big city.

Nicola Schofield skilfully sets up an apparently close and devoted family which then falls apart before our eyes; the shocks keep coming right up to the very last moment.

In their brief scenes together Lee Joseph as Chris and Chris Brett as James create a genuine mood of long-standing intimacy and brotherly affection.  The most impressive performance comes from Laura Littlewood as James’s smug yummy-mummy wife Sarah.  There is real truth in the writing of this character, and Laura Littlewood plays her with conviction and confidence. 
 
Set designer Jonathan Ingham creates an economical yet suggestive staging for the comfortable and attractive family garden.  Director Emma Hatcher is faithful to the drama’s ebbs and flows, letting the characters develop at a leisurely pace - however the play could do with some judicious trimming because there isn’t enough story to justify its current length. 

While not quite as successful as last winter’s production of Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell, Organised Chaos should be congratulated for continuing to champion new writing and local acting talent.

Peacefully at Home
Presented by Organised Chaos Productions
Taurus Bar, Canal Street, Manchester
Wed 6 - Sat 9 April 2011 @ 8pm (7pm on Thurs 7)
£7.50/£5.50 (conc)
www.organisedchaosproductions.co.uk

JB Shorts 5
Wednesday 23 March 2011

The opportunity to see some of the north’s best TV writers stretching their theatrical muscles in a range of short, sharp 10-minute plays is yet again packing out the cellars below Joshua Brooks bar in Manchester.  The cream of local acting and directing talent is also on parade - both on stage and in the audience.  JB Shorts is becoming a kind of biannual smoking concert for Manchester’s thespian community, only the club’s doors are open to everyone.

As usual the programme contains an eclectic mix of styles and subjects: a comedy about a malfunctioning Sky box leads to an emotional crisis and a philosophical discourse on the transience of digital media; the quick buck promised by a clinical trial isn’t as consequence-free as it seems; a man’s desperate trip to a psychiatrist has shades of Blithe Spirit about it.

The most surprising piece is Peter Kerry’s My Poor Fool is Hang’d, which bucks the trend for contemporary realism with a fully rigged-out costume drama.  This sequel to King Lear featuring Kent (Russell Richardson), The Fool (John Catterall) and Cordelia (Annamarie Bayley) shows how indigestible the absolute truth can be, albeit in a rather obscure manner.

For a truly successful combination of comedy and drama you have to turn to Diane Whitley’s Snapshots.  Bill and Sally are the victims of a surprise 40th wedding celebration hosted by their doting granddaughter Zoë and her new beau Greg.  Zoë has compiled a slideshow of photographs which mark the major landmarks in a long and apparently happy marriage.  Using an ingenious device, which director Chris Wright handles with slick assurance, the pictures are brought to life by the two younger actors while the older Bill and Sally comment on the action.  Glenn Cunningham and Tom Tyler-Shaw are utterly convincing as the old and young Bill, a carefree rocker trapped by an unwanted pregnancy who grows into a sympathetic and likeable character.  Ruth Evans and Rachael McGuinness have a harder job to make the shallow Sally into someone the audience can care about, but they do forge believable partnerships with their respective Bills.  This script is one of the best things I’ve seen at JB Shorts and demonstrates how much can be achieved in just 15 minutes on stage.

The equally assured finale is by Dave Simpson, who also employs a flash-back device for We’re All In This Together.  Rookie comedian Jack (James Quinn) has taken to the stage in an open mic comedy night and is lambasting the coalition government with a series of pitiful gags.  Only a performer as assured and funny as James Quinn could make Jack’s deliberately amateurish act come across as hilarious.  Every time the stand-up pillories some new government policy the action flashes back to show the impact it’s had on Jack’s own life and how thoroughly he’s been betrayed.  Peter Slater is also good value as his nerdy friend turned Lib Dem councillor.  We’re All In This Together is very much a topical comedy, and arguably pure agitprop.  But on the day Manchester University announced maximum student tuition fees of £9K, and mere hours after George Osborne’s second budget, the response from the crowd was vocal and enthusiastic. 

Small wonder even successful TV writers whose audiences are usually counted in the millions still get a kick from having their work performed live on stage.

On until Sat 2 April (NOT Sunday 27)
7pm (doors 6.40pm)
JOSHUA BROOKS, 106 Princess Street, MANCHESTER M1 6NG
(The junction of Charles St and Princess St, at the side of the BBC)
All Tickets : £5 (Pay on the Door)

Manchester International Festival today announced the full programme of new and specially commissioned work to be premiered in the city this summer.

The festival includes the previously announced play by Victoria Wood at Manchester Opera House; the collaboration between Marina Abramovic, Willem Dafoe, Robert Wilson and Antony (of Antony & the Johnsons) at The Lowry; and Mark Elder and the Hallé playing Wagner’s Die Walkure at the Bridgewater Hall.

There will also be exciting contributions from major international artists in every conceivable field.  And speaking of fields, the festival is going to have its very own sustainable, carbon-neutral farm supplying the Albert Square café.  However, far from being a verdant urban oasis, the vertical farm is situated in a disused tower block in the city; the project is intended to run up to the 2013 event.

Returning to the UK, the iconoclastic Icelandic singer-songwriter Bjork has been developing Biophilia (love of nature) for three years.  This melding of music, nature and science, which is only now possible thanks to recent developments in technology, will be performed at Campfield Market Hall next to the Museum of Science and Industry for comparatively intimate audiences of only 1800.  As well as creating the first “App Album”, the multi-media interactive shows include specially invented instruments such as a 30-foot high pendulum.

Blur’s Damon Albern and director Rufus Norris have focussed their attention on the Elizabethan code breaker, mathematician, astronomer, astrologer and magician Doctor John Dee.  With live music on authentic period instruments and West African drums, and featuring 20 orchestral players, the project defies explanation but intriguingly we are promised magic, tunes and anthems.  Doctor Dee will also be seen at the Olympic Festival in June 2012.

In addition to the festival’s brief of commissioning world premieres, this time the artists have also been encouraged to re-imagine and reinterpret iconic events from the past.  Victoria Wood’s new play That Day We Sang is set in 1969 when a Granada TV documentary is marking the 40th anniversary of the legendary Manchester School Children’s Choir’s recording of Nymphs and Shepherds Come Away.  Switching between the two eras, the play is a love story about a pair of middle-aged people who might have a second chance in life.

Punchdrunk are taking over the Media City plaza on Salford Quays to create their first event for children, The Crash of the Elysium.  Aimed at an audience aged between 6 and 12 years, their co-conspirators include BBC North, BBC Wales and Steven Moffatt, and although the subject matter is super-secret they promise it’s something all will children love.

Art events include a range of activities both inside and outside the Whitworth Art Gallery, a group show at Manchester Art Gallery, and an LED wall in Lincoln Square.

Acknowledging Manchester’s place in musical history, both pop and classical, musicians at the festival include Sinead O’Conner, Snoop Dogg, Ricky Lee Jones, Alina Ibragimova and Paul Heaton (ex The Housemartins and The Beautiful South); and Sacred Sites brings internationally renowned performers of sacred song and recital to five different faith communities in Manchester.

The Pavilion Theatre on Albert Square will host an eclectic range of work and artists, with Johnny Vegas performing on stage for one week with his new show.

Promising something for everyone, and with at least one third of the tickets free, the 2011 Manchester International Festival sounds like a great proposition for this summer.

30 June-17 July 2011
Various venues, Manchester and Salford
www.mif.co.uk

The Royal Exchange is usually a pantomime-free zone come Christmas time - but they’ve broken the mould this year with a Lancashire-set “Cinderella Circa 1910” by Harold “Hobson’s Choice” Brighouse.  And in the best gender role reversal tradition of panto, Cinderella is played by a boy.

 Zack is a distinctly unheroic hero - a gormless innocent with a big heart whose lack of social airs make him an embarrassment to his aspiring petit-bourgeois family.  After a lifetime of emotional neglect and constant criticism inflicted by his battleaxe mother, Mrs Munning, and miserly brother, Paul, they’ve even sacked him from his job in the family catering firm because his only suit (a hand-me-down from his dead dad) has worn to rags.

 Enter Zack’s Fairy Godmother-cum-Prince(ss) Charming, in the form of beautiful and rich cousin Virginia, who immediately sees what’s going on - until the artful Paul, scheming mother, and some sexual misadventures on Zack’s part convince her otherwise.

 If you’re familiar with the film career of George Formby then you’ll immediately be at home with this style of gentle northern comedy, where the unlikely protagonist wins out despite nothing to recommend him but a mixture of good humour and pathos.  Zack is played by local comedian Justin Moorhouse - for those unfamiliar with his work, he’s the guy you’d ring if you couldn’t get Johnny Vegas - and he’s certainly “got a gift for jollification”, as well as eliciting several choruses of “ahhh” from the audience when his fortunes fall.

 Pearce Quigley’s Eeyore-ish Paul is as drippy as his lank moustache (“there isn’t a woman on earth worth buying roses for at sixpence a bloom”), while Polly Hemingway as their mother nicely catches the sharp-tongued quality of the aspiring lower-middle-class (“your ways would make a cat laugh”).

 Greg Hersov’s production finds the anarchic nature of “Lancy” humour in the comparatively small roles of dirt poor Martha Wrigley (played with all the spirit of an Eliza Doolittle by Samantha Power) and the bogus servant Sally Teale (rendered with an hilarious lack of deference by Michelle Tate).

 Although Hobson’s Choice is Harold Brighouse’s greatest hit and a deservedly iconic play, Zack is also an enjoyable example of the work of the Manchester School of Playwrights - and even the panto-averse won’t object to its fairytale happy ending.

  Zack is on until Saturday 22 January 2011

Prices: £9-£30

Evenings: Mon-Fri @ 7.30 (not 24 Dec); Sats @ 8pm

Matinees: Weds @ 2.30pm (also Tues 21 & Fri 24 Dec); Sats @ 4pm (& Mon 27 Dec)

Box Office: 0161 833 9833

www.royalexchange.co.uk

Fringe fixture JB Shorts is back for another run at Joshua Brooks bar in Manchester.  This is the chance to catch the region’s finest TV writers working not merely in high definition (so passé) but in 3D no less - and what’s more being performed live. 

As usual this challenge has attracted directors and actors of the highest calibre, and the tiny cellar space means the whole evening is shot in thrillingly extreme close-up.

The opening pieces (Touched by Bill Taylor and Waiting for Gaga by Lindsay Williams) about odd relationships and unusual situations led to a montage of bizarre images: Chris Hannon (Lunch Monkeys) rowing a table-top boat; Arthur Bostrom (’Allo ’Allo!) wearing furry pink rabbit ears; and Graham Galloway in the thankless role of a corpse yet still stealing the scene with one baleful glare.

However it was Christopher Reason’s A Selfish Boy, sensitively directed by Mary Cunningham and beautifully played by James Quinn and Joan Kempson, which effortlessly crowned the first half of the show.  James Quinn takes a dual role as the barbed narrator and resentful son of a “nutty mum” who, like a latter-day Victorian lady invalid, is permanently ensconced on her fainting couch (“she’s been in bed since forever”).  As we follow Mum’s endless search for a cure (pills, ECT, you name it), the jarring and slightly confusing time-shifts add to the sense of mystery, although the killer line comes when her Harley Street psychiatrist addresses her as “Mrs Reason” and you realise with a frisson of horror that you’re not watching fiction but the writer’s own life story. 

This really was fine work, which was followed by another two-hander of equal dramatic tension (though leavened with a great deal more humour).  Going to Extremes, written by Lisa Holdsworth and directed by Trevor MacFarlane, could potentially have been nothing more than a worthy piece of Theatre In Education - white working-class cockney Lee (Joe Ransom) has come up north on an English Defence League rally, where he encounters Leeds-born Muslim Amir (Sushil Chudasama).  The inevitable clash is diffused when they recognise each other as friends and work colleagues from way back.  Lisa Holdsworth’s play examines the different meanings of racism, tribalism and discrimination in today’s society, but its warmth and heart come from her characters, a pair of genuinely nice young men made real and loveable by charming and engaging performers who get the audience rooting for a happy ending.

Next up, Octagon artist director emeritus Mark Babych turns his hand to James Quinn’s comedy pastiche Watching the Detectives.  ITV’s latest drama commissioner (Gemma North) is proposing a clear-out of the cosy Sunday night schedule, and has a quartet of edgy new detective series in the frame - when she’s found dead at her desk by Soames the Butler (Arthur Bostrom, quite supercilious enough to have stepped out of that other ITV weekend favourite, Downton Abbey).  The crime is examined by - who else? - the four short-listed detectives: posh tweed-clad spinster Miss Winter (Annamarie Bayley); Scottish maverick DI Rankin (Ryan Pope); pioneering genre-busting Page-3-model-stroke-investigator Tanya Styles (Rachael McGuinness); and Peter Slater as the seedy bent northern copper George Headingley (“I don’t mean queer - proper bent.”)  The script is funny and clever, and the performances delightfully over-the-top - as someone says, “Sunday nights will never be the same”.

Finally, Dave Simpson’s Cock-Tales is The Vagina Monologues for the Y-chromosome-toting section of the audience, a celebration of all things willy.  Like its female counterpart it opens with a woman on a bar stool addressing the audience, and also features the strings of fun facts, rudery, myth challenging, and touching true stories (here of prostate cancer) which made Eve Ensler’s formula so appealing.  But think how much more successful the original might have been with two giant dancing dicks on stage.  Joe Ransom, Liam Tims, Murray Taylor and Susan McCardle bring tears to the eyes in so many different ways.

So another ratings success for this popular re-commission - series 4 is JB Shorts at the top of its form.

 

www.jbshorts.co.uk

Till Saturday 13 November (not Sunday 7th) @ 7pm

Tickets £5 on door

 

Joshua Brooks

106 Princess Street
Manchester

Lancashire M1 6NG

It’s been a long time since I saw a play at Taurus, and in the interim it has either been brilliantly revamped to make the tiny, cramped downstairs bar into a viable performance space with decent viewing lines, or emerging theatre company Organised Chaos have worked wonders to create an almost site-specific production which cleverly evokes the genteel and refined pleasures of an upmarket tearoom. 

We come down the basement stairs to find two couples tête-à-tête at neighbouring tables which are decked out with all the accoutrements of a leisurely and indulgent afternoon tea.  The white linen tablecloths, fine china, teapots and cafetières, not to mention the laden cake stands and mouth-watering array of pastries, made me want to summon a waitress and look at a menu at once - designer Alice Allen’s attention to detail is spot on.

What playwright Lindsay Kernahan and director Emma France then set up is a Siamese-twin of a comedy, with styles of writing and acting almost diametrically opposed, as the couples chat over their refreshments and intriguing stories come to separate but equally dramatic climaxes.

Jean (Celia Carron) and Poppy (Dianne Rimmer) are nicely turned-out ladies who lunch - or in this case, take tea.  Being of a certain age their conversations range across all the problems that can beset a woman in her middle years - ex-husbands, new partners, grown-up children, antisocial cats, transgender internet dating - that kind of thing.  With just a hint of the Cheshire Set about them (though that set is perhaps more Hollyoaks than Wilmslow) their bantering northern humour is reminiscent of Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood, and the characterisations are broad without being over-the-top.  I don’t know whether first-night nerves caused these scenes to played at a snail’s pace with Pinteresque pauses, but the snappy comic dialogue seemed to demand something a great deal less languid.

At the next table William (Laurence Pickford) and Abigail (Julie Burrow) are in a more modern and downbeat style of comedy.  William is divorcing his wife to be with his much younger girlfriend, but their long weekend away in the country is not turning out to be as romantic as anticipated, partly due to the age gap, and partly due to Abigail’s jealousy and William’s wandering eye.  The two actors establish a convincing relationship, conveying genuine emotion and even arousing our sympathy.  The humour comes less from the dialogue than the playing - small but true moments, such as when the slightly vain and self-absorbed William includes the whole audience in his lascivious stare, or glimpses his own smile in the wall mirror and stops to admire it.

Tonight’s performance really tweaked the audience’s funnybone.  If you miss the company’s work this time around there’s a further opportunity to catch one of their previous Taurus shows at the Buxton Fringe Festival this summer.

 

Evenings: 22nd to 24th April @ 7.30pm

Matinee: Sat 24^th @ 5pm

Tickets: £7 (£5 conc) from Quaytickets: 0843 208 0500 or www.quaytickets.com

 

Taurus Bar

1 Canal Street
Manchester

M1 3HE

 

www.organisedchaosproductions.co.uk

www.taurus-bar.co.uk

Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play A Raisin in the Sun is the best thing the Royal Exchange has put on in ages. 

Three generations of the Younger family are cramped into the shabby rented rooms on Chicago’s Southside which god-fearing matriarch, Lena, first moved into as a new bride full of hopes and dreams. 

But Lena’s husband worked himself into an early grave, and although her son Walter fantasises about making a quick buck by investing in a series of shady schemes, and her daughter Beneatha bubbles with exciting ideals and ambitions, reality means that Lena and her daughter-in-law Ruth are skivvying for rich white people and her grandson has to sleep on the sofa.

However the imminent arrival of a cheque for $10,000 - the life insurance on Lena’s late husband - could transform all their lives.

Superficially A Raisin in the Sun appears to be staple Royal Exchange fare like Wesker’s Roots or Osborne’s The Entertainer, a naturalistic drama from exactly the same era which tells its tale via a highly detailed depiction of domestic life: the opening blow-by-blow account of the Youngers’ early morning routine, down to breakfast being cooked live on stage, leads one to expect nothing more.

But this poor, black family’s frames of reference aren’t provincial and miniaturist but global and historical: Lena traces her ancestors back six generations to when they were brought to America as slaves, and sees her own life as part of their progression; aspiring medical student Beneatha looks both backwards and forwards when she becomes fascinated by African culture.  The gender politics are intriguing, too.  Has Walter been emasculated by his nagging wife and infantilised by his all-powerful mother?  Are Beneatha’s hopes realistic, or should she settle down with a man who isn’t her intellectual equal but who can offer material security?  The story becomes increasingly powerful and moving, culminating in a nail-biting choice for one of the characters that will materially and morally affect them all.  And Lorraine Hansberry’s writing has a fundamental optimism and belief in a better future which is absent from her English contemporaries.

The whole cast is excellent, down to the smallest cameo.  Ray Fearon’s ne’er-do-well Walter is charming and sulky, and Tracy Ifeachor as his student sister is sassy, sophisticated and shy by turns.  Starletta DuPois plays the magnificently upholstered matriarch Lena with authority, while Jenny Jules as Ruth quietly conveys the loneliness of a disappointed wife trying to hold things together.

Director Michael Buffong has given this great play a fantastic production that entertains and emotionally engages throughout.  The whole experience is so uplifting that it’s little wonder some members of the audience were on their feet at the end.

 

A Raisin in the Sun is on until Saturday 20 February 2010

Prices: £8.50-£29.50

Evenings: Mon-Sat @ 7.30

Matinees: Wed & Sat @ 2.30

Box Office: 0161 833 9833

www.royalexchange.co.uk

”Three of the Best from 24:7” to land in London!

 For six years now our annual 24:7 Theatre Festival has been a springboard for new writing and acting talent in the North West.

Just last week the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, hosted “Three of the Best from 24:7” to appreciative audiences.

Now, supported by The Co-operative (and for one day only: Thursday, 15 October!), the Three will transfer to London’s Young Vic as part of our drive to put regional work on a national stage.

 

These shows are guaranteed to delight, excite, entertain and provoke. Written by Alistair McDowall, the compelling, sometimes terrifying 5:30 is set on a train and charts the unlikely friendship between aggressive, manic Rob and the quiet, reserved Tim.

In Lub You, writer Eve Steele inhabits the mind and body of a two year old, as Charlie’s world is turned upside down by the birth of his baby brother.

Rounding off the Three is Richard Vergette’s memorable and moving As We Forgive Them. The writer himself plays an American Congressman who controversially saves his daughter’s murderer from the death penalty in order to educate the man on his wrongdoings.

A bit of background...

This showcase is the latest exciting development of an initiative that began in January 2004 as an unfunded showcase for undiscovered, under-resourced or under-utilised theatre-related talent. We persuaded bars, nightclubs and other non-traditional theatre venues to let us stage 17 premières of new one-hour plays.

Just six years later – having received industry awards and now supported by the Arts Council, Manchester City Council and The Co-operative – the Festival has showcased 113 plays by 89 writers, and around 20,000 people have seen a performance.

Scripts for 24:7 are selected by a panel of industry professionals and each writer invited to participate is regarded as executive producer – a system which has built the Festival’s reputation as a showcase for the highest levels of new talent.

A number of productions have gone on to perform at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, Manchester’s Library Theatre and on tour across the country. Writers have won awards in the UK and Ireland and commissions from national and regional producing companies.

Showcase details:

Date: Thursday, 15 October 2009

Venue: Young Vic, 66 The Cut, London SE1 8LZ (near the Old Vic and Waterloo Station)

 Running order: 1pm 5:30, 2:15pm Lub You, 3:30pm As We Forgive Them; 6:30pm 5:30, 7:45pm Lub You, 9pm As We Forgive Them

 Tickets: £5 per performance from the Young Vic box office on 020 7922 2922 or book online at http://www.youngvic.org/whats-on

___

 Click here to see a video montage of the 2009 Festival: There were 21 original 1-hour shows:

 5:30 • As We Forgive Them • Blinded by the Light • CELL • The Coffee Hour • Dancing to the Sound of Crunching Snails • Detaining Mr K • Donal Fleet: A Confessional • Exit Salford • Freshers • Frontline • The Last Chair • Lub You • Maine Road • No Wonder • Out of Dead Air • The Person Without • Phys-Ed • Remember Me • Temp/Casual • Working Title

 Click here to go to the 24:7 website. There are masses of reviews and videos. This year there was more coverage than ever!