Deadlines set for plays in a day

Ready to focus on creating quickly are actress Brenda Kendall (left), playwright Mike Hudson and director Jane Wolfson. Picture / Carolyn Robertson

This Sunday, 10 playwrights, 10 directors and 30 actors will attempt a feat of extreme daring. They will dive into freefall theatre and create 10 new short plays in just 24 hours.

The inaugural 24 Hour-Deadline Theatre is the brainchild of playwright Mike Hudson, who penned Beautiful Losers.

He was inspired when he read of a similar event organised by Kevin Spacey as a fundraiser for London's Old Vic.

"Two strands of thought are behind it," he says. "I work with a lot of playwrights through Playmarket and I notice there is a large group of people who finish a beautiful work of writing but who don't know any producers, directors or actors, so their work never goes any further. That got me thinking, but what really triggered it was the Old Vic thing."

On Saturday, the 10 playwrights (Hudson included) will convene at the Herald Theatre. They will pick from a hat the names of a director and three actors. All 10 will be shown a mystery prop, the single element the plays will share.

They will then have 12 hours to write a 10-minute play. In the morning, the scripts will be handed to the directors and actors for rehearsal.

At 8pm on Sunday, the curtain will go up on 10 shiny new plays.

"We have a mix of young playwrights and some really well-established ones," says Hudson. "It's a brilliant opportunity, especially for the younger ones, to get a work seen in a short space of time."

After Hudson collected his writers, he sent an invitation to directors and actors. He was flabbergasted by the response.

"I wanted to get predominantly experienced directors. I wasn't sure who I would get in terms of actors. I was anticipating receiving a lot of CVs from recent graduates I had never heard of."

Instead, Hudson received a deluge of offers from many of the stars of New Zealand theatre and screen.

His writers include James Griffin, Albert Belz, Diana Fuemana, Stephanie Johnson, Pip Hall and Peter Cox.

Directors include Oliver Driver, Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Sam Scott, Julie Nolan, Colin Mitchell, Caroline Bell-Booth and visiting British director Jane Wolfson.

Actors include Sara Wiseman, Carl Bland, Alison Bruce, Murray Keane, Ian Hughes, Kevin Wilson, Claire Chitham and Stephen Papps.

While Hudson sees the event as a great learning opportunity for the more inexperienced in the group, he has weighted the line-up with seasoned professionals.

"Just being surrounded by experienced talent is a great opportunity. Another measure of success is the chance for the less experienced to make contacts, and for the young playwrights to short-circuit all the development that goes into productions, and get something up there on stage in a short amount of time."

Hudson emphasises this is not improvised theatre.

"I'm trying to keep it a bit rock'n'roll and guerilla-ish, and it does have a spontaneity similar to something like theatresports.

"But it is a series of plays which are written and rehearsed, and there are some strict rules. Any changes to the scripts must be agreed on by the writers and directors but there won't be the time for any major rewrites."

He says there is potential to make it an annual thing, and to take it to different parts of the country.

"It's innovative and a little fringey but the established names give it the potential to be a really cool event.

"I have a theory that people are returning to the theatre. There is so much film, television, DVD, home theatre-type stuff out there that people can sit and watch in the privacy of their own home.

"But theatre will always be something unique, something one-off, night to night, that you are part of as an audience member. I think that's drawing more and more people to the theatre.

"And this will truly be a unique event."

Performance

* What: Urbis 24 Hours-Deadline Theatre

* Where and when: Herald Theatre, Sunday March 20, 8pm