Interview with David Slack, Director of the 24 :7 Theatre Festival
Article published: Monday, June 7th 2010
The stage is being readied in New Century House to celebrate the next 24 :7 Theatre Festival, taking place between July 26 and August 1. Ten scripts will battle it out for first prize at this years competition.
David Slack creat
ed 24:7 in 2002. After working on a play in the Edinburgh Fringe and coming back to Manchester to work on a TV show, he realised that Manchester needed its own theatre festival. MULE spoke to David about this festival at a meeting of writers actors and directors ealier this month. Here is what he had to say.
MULE: What can you say about the writer’s talent this year, do you think the competition is very high?
DS: We had a one hundred and fourteen scripts submitted and they all pay something as well, it’s not an open thing, everyone has to pay a submission fee, this is the first level of adjudication because they have to believe in their scripts. We had forty different readers working in three stages to reduce the number until we found ten to produce this year. The standard, I think, is very high. Of course, our risk is how does it work on the stage? We think it’s good because the kind of the festival we are is based on the model of the Edinburgh fringe, which means you have to quickly get into the space, do your show and get out again. So, we always say don’t rely on the technical support, rely on the text and on the actors to do the work. It doesn’t matter where the play is, it’s important how they work and how people use their imagination.
MULE: What kind of people and what kind of theatre is the festival is looking for?
DS: We’re looking for writers who are willing to take a chance, take a risk. We want interesting dialogue. In this festival we have some writers who are quite experienced, but also we have some who for them its the first thing that they ever wrote, and so we help everyone to get their play on.
MULE: After seven years do you think the festival is consolidated or not?
DS: For some people it is. The main problem is that we are competing with all kind of things, in theatre and in performance in general and television. We are competing with sofas, to get people off the sofa to come and see a piece of live theatre. So this is a big challenge. And why should people come to see the work? Because they don’t know who is in it. We don’t have any big celebrity run in it. It’s interesting, is about human relationships, but it’s not simply entertainment. It’s entertaining, but it’s not just about that. We have to convince people that it’s not amateur work, most of the actors are professionals, or they want to be professionals, and this is an opportunity. We are looking for people who want to work along side us, and help new writers to be discovered.
MULE: What does theatre mean to you?
DS: I love theatre because I like to be transported, I like to be faked into an other place. I want to believe what’s happening in front of me, with theatre, and also with television or film, I want to be part of it, I want to enjoy it.
24:7 Theatre Festival, 26 July – 1 August. New Century House, Mayes St, Manchester
Various times throughout week; average ticket price £8.
For further information and tickets see 247theatrefestival.co.uk
Virginia Fernandez
More: Culture, Manchester
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