CityLife

Preview: 24:7 Theatre Festival 2010

Agyness Deyn in Acid Burn

New Century House - July 26 to August 1, 2010

This year’s 24:7 Theatre Festival is nearly upon us. Now in its seventh year, the festival gives new writing talent the chance to shine and bloom, with participants consistently winning awards at the annual M.E.N. Theatre Awards.

Festival founder David Slack has always said that the event should be in a stage of constant evolution, so this year, the set-up is slightly different. The hundreds of entries have been narrowed down to just 10 productions, each of which will have several performances at various times over the course of the week at 24:7’s home this year, the Co-operative Society’s New Century House. Four more plays are being given a rehearsed reading and there’s also a series of late-night events. 

This year’s plays include Paul Osborne’s The Bluest Blue. Directed by Paul Stonehouse, the play involves two strangers who meet on a bench outside York Minster.

The Fading Hum, written by Charlotte Essex and directed by Laura Keefe, explores concepts like guilt, death and estrangement, after Robin’s unexpected arrival at his brother’s farm.

Colette Kane’s Ways To Look At Fish was a big hit at the 2008 24:7. Colette, and director Nick Moss, are back with Hatch, charting the heartbreaking homecoming of an absentee father and his grown-up children.

The Inconsistent Whisper Of Insanity, set in the 1920s during an unsuccessful uprising against the Russian government, is the latest from another M.E.N Theatre Awards success, playwright/director Ian Moore.

Islanders, a dark comedy by Dick Curran, is ‘a climate-change love triangle,’ while Make Believe, written by Luke Walker and Sally Lawton and directed by Mike Heath, looks at what happens when imagination and real life get mixed up.

Kim Jackson and Rebecca Mahon’s play No View From The Window turns a decaying WC into a dramatic confessional. Pawn is a new play from ex-police sergeant Brian Marchbank who started writing at the age of 50. A robbery at a pawn shop turns into a hostage situation and those involved may share more than a crisis.

In Reeling, by Sean Gregory, sisters Jude and Alice break into their elderly neighbour’s house only to stumble across a wall of cassette tapes that are recordings of their entire lives. The cast includes M.E.N award winner Ruth Evans, David Cordon  and 12-year-old local girl Hannah Hughes.

In Sheepish, by Joyce Branagh, a Welshman and a Yorkshireman are dressed as sheep, waiting for Dee in a field, to go to his ‘fancy dress’ party.

The rehearsed readings, at 6pm are: Baby Shaped Hole by Julia Hogan, directed by Elizabeth Newman (Tuesday); Domestic Bliss by Roy Knowles, directed by Jim Poyser (Wednesday); All Because Of Molly by Paul Ferguson, directed by Martin Jameson (Thursday); and A Lady Of Substance by Jon Cooper, directed by Matthew Dunster (Friday).

There are also the four After Hours sessions, all starting at 10:30pm at £3 on the door. On Tuesday, there’s Scriptworks on tour, where excerpts of new scripts will be presented.

Wednesday sees three UK short film premières, all made in the north west by people from the north west. Acid Burn is written and directed by Matt Greenhalgh, BAFTA Award-winning writer. The film features model Agyness Deyn in her first acting role.

Matt explains: “While I was waiting for contracts to be sorted, I decided to keep busy and write and direct a short film. Usually for me that means finding something I can’t normally do in the marketplace, hence the non-Hollywood ending.”

Resting has been written and directed by actors William Ash (an M.E.N. Theatre Award winner for You Can See The Hills at the Exchange Studio) and Andrew Knott (who played Lockwood in The History Boys).

Then there’s Master Motivator, written by Janet Harrison and directed by Noreen Kershaw, who has directed Coronation Street and Shameless among many others. A local businesswoman, Janet produced this film by combining her entrepreneurial resolve with an earlier passion for writing and acting. John Henshaw, of Early Doors,  and Looking for Eric, stars. Kevin Bourke will host the event and chair a Q&A session with the writers.

On Friday, Elizabeth Newman, assistant artistic director at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, chairs a discussion and Q&A on new writing, with a panel including Octagon artistic director David Thacker, playwright David Eldridge, and playwright and director Matthew Dunster.

Saturday night sees 24:7 ventures into the realms of a Comedy Sketch Night, featuring 10 brand-new short comedy sketches in competition.

For more information, contact: www.247theatrefestival.co.uk.