24:7 Festival Preview – The Original 3D Experience

As the annual 24:7 Theatre Festival is ready to roll from 26 July – 1 August, here’s a WOS Northwest preview of what to expect from this innovative programme – which many now see as Manchester’s very own Edinburgh Fringe.

Hatch
Colette Kane’s play is an explosive drama that charts the heartbreaking homecoming of an absentee Father.This week, Colette is charting the whereabouts of an absentee leading actress, Helen Carter. After attending Hatch rehearsals, Helen nearly missed her call for Dad’s Army Marches On (national tour) and has been grounded in Bradford for a week! “It’s not you, it’s the place, the whole city! I don’t know how to be in it; who to be.”
  
The Inconsistent Whisper Of Insanity
A cast of 8 actors will recreate a fictional account of a young girl’s accidental involvement in an unsuccessful Soviet uprising against the Russian Government in 1921. For trailer and cast blogs, follow this link.
 
Islanders
This week, 3 eccentric people and a love triangle bring about more than a climactic change as the show’s poster image changes from ‘terns’ to ‘puffins’. See the cast devising a martial arts sequence with Wing Chun expert, Oliver von Herder by visiting the Cast Blog:  http://www.islanders247.wordpress.com
 
The Bluest Blue
Alan Booty is Stevie the street cleaner.  Preparing for the role, Alan took to the streets of York to become a real life street cleaner. Find out what Alan had to say by following: http://www.thebluestblue.co.uk/about-us/writer-s-blog
  
The Fading Hum
What’s buzzing about the BBC? Bees, as Becky Want at BBC Manchester quickly noted. Themes of this show are proving a hit with ecologists and environmentalists alike.
 
Make Believe
Local actors and writers, Sally Lawton and Luke Walker are Astral Twins in more ways than one. Both met at 24:7 in 2007; both were born on the same day! Co-writers and now co-performers, read their story on their website.

No View From The Window
A powerful, disturbing and witty one woman play. Find out what’s been happening this week with Tangled Web Productions on Facebook by clicking here.
 
Pawn
Fully cast with all local actors. Rehearsing in Manchester, you can see their video trailer by clicking here.  
 
Reeling  
This week, the newly formed cast met for the first time and read the play through. Not as easy as you’d think when the majority of the play involves listening to pre-recorded tapes; often with characters having to listen to themselves!  Big Brother or what? Follow Reeling on: http://www.reeling247.blogspot.com
  
Sheepish
Joyce Branagh is a freelance writer and theatre director working and living in the North West. Sheepish, her first play, has a cast of 3 and includes Ayesha Gwilt, ‘Amy Porter’ on BBC’s Waterloo Road; Simon Holland Roberts, an experienced theatre actor who performed with Lenny Henry in Northern Broadsides’ West End Production of Othello; and Christopher Chilton, lately in The Road to Nab End at Oldham Coliseum.

As well as these ten new productions, there is also the chance to see four rehearsed readings. We wil be covering the Festival in its entirety but in the meantime, please visit the 24:7 website for updates, more information and ticket deals.

24:7 runs from 26 July – 1 August.