CityLife

High fives for 24:7 festival

AFTER a fifth successful year, the 24:7 festival is now, undoubtedly, established as a vital part of Manchester's vibrant theatre scene.

Last week the fringe event staged 80 performances of 16 new plays in four non-theatrical spaces in the city centre, with the average audience attendance up 41 per cent on last year.

The growth of the festival was apparent not just in increased audience numbers but also in the quality of the writing, the geographical spread of applicants and the involvement of some well-known faces, such as Coronation Street's Vicky Binns (Molly Compton), who turned-up alongside 350 other actors to audition.

Vicky, who was previously an ambassador for the event, played a spoof Frankenstein's bride character in the wacky comedy Dave & Jeff Versus The Crazed Corpse Loving Consultant From Cardiothoracics, by Stephen Michael Lowe, at Arndale music store Zavvi. It proved so popular that for several shows people were buying tickets for standing room only.

Other familiar TV faces taking to the stage included former Emmerdale star Jeff Hordley (Cain Dingle) in Ways to Look At Fish and James Quinn (Hollyoak's Kirk Benson) in Quadruped, both at The Midland. Festival director David Slack (pictured) says: "It's not a celebrity vehicle, which is what I like about it. Vicky, Jeff and James all got involved because they were attracted by the scripts.

Higher

"The general quality of the writing and the shows this year was higher. The festival is getting a much wider catchment too. The call for submissions now goes out to various writers groups throughout the country and the Scottish playwrights forum advertise it as well.

"We even got one submission, James Howell's Lay Down and Love Me Again, from Canada via Kuwait, where he was teaching when he read about 24:7 on the internet."

This year David and his festival co-founder Amanda Hennessy are also celebrating some guaranteed financial support for the event. Up until April, it was uncertain whether they would secure any funding for the week-long festival. Considering it takes about 15 months to organise - plans for next year got under way months ago.

Arts Council

Thankfully, Manchester council, which has supported the event since its second year, and the Arts Council, which has been on board from year three both stepped in to help. Although more sponsors are needed, for the first time thecouncil has already pledged funds for 24:7 2009.

"The council has supported it since the second year on a single year basis. But this is the first time we've had guaranteed continuity, which is fantastic," says David. "In their offer letter this year the council said they consider the festival to be one of the pillar events in the city.

"On a beautiful sunny day like Saturday we still attracted more than 700 to see the shows so there is a definite desire for it to happen. The next stage now is to secure it. We need sponsorship so that we can keep it affordable for both the participants and the public."

Like Edinburgh, the festival has already become a springboard for writers, with four of the 16 plays being staged at Bolton Octagon next month. It is hoped that others will feature in the Library Theatre's pick of the fringe, Replay, in January.

And since staging his play Bullet Shaped Heart, about the brutality of war, at last year's event, Liverpool writer Neil Edwards has developed his work into a full-length play which tours nationally next spring.

"For writers I think 24:7 fills the massive gap between what you want to do and what you can do," says Neil. "The hour-long limit really made me focus on the story and the team there were like a coaxing, gentle father figure saying it's OK to take those steps."

24:7 will be taking submissions for new scripts in December. For details visit 247theatrefestival.co.uk.