The 24 Hour Plays at Hyde Festival Theatre in September is a one-day event that brings together 24 actors from both amateur and professional theatre.
Additionally, there are six professional directors and six experienced writers whose work can often be seen on the fringe. Within the space of 24 hours, the writers will have each written, overnight, a 15-minute play for four actors given to them at random along with a director.
These plays are rehearsed (including tech and dress) and performed off-book, after a nine-hour rehearsal period, that evening to a paying audience.
This event has become the Hyde Festival Theatre's season opener and helps to raise much-needed funds for the theatre. Everyone gives their time for free, with actors for previous events travelling from as far away as Italy and last year, writer Emma Gibson, (War Stories co-written with Rob Johnston at 24:7 and Re:Play) had only recently landed from Australia.
The event has also seen early versions of plays which have gone on to appear in a fuller form at various fringe theatres around the country, which most recently included The Lives and Loves of Vera Dymond, one of the plays chosen for last year's 24:7 Theatre Festival.