THE QUESTORS
24 HOUR PLAYS / OVERNIGHT PLAYS
24 Hours at The Questors
Or how Tristan Marshall came to love theatre on a deadline.
"I think we should do a 24-Hour Plays event", I said. Mark Fitzgerald smiled a owing smile. Our Artistic Director has a particularly leonine smile. I should have run at that point. We were in The Grapevine and I could have made it out the door. "Are you volunteering?" he replied. Again, I should have run. "Yes" I replied. "OK" he said.
If the idea of 24-Hour Plays is simple, it's extremely challenging in practice — to write, rehearse and direct a series of short plays in just 24 hours.
I went home and started emailing. I'd need a very good co-producer, so I emailed Greg Smith; then great lights and sound, so I called Richard Mead and Ben Sandford; and having worked with Libbie Khabaza on Annie I knew she was an unflappable DSM.
Then I put the call out for actors, directors and writers on iQ.
The replies started coming in. We had a show. I decided on seven 12-minute plays. Andrea said we could have The Playhouse if we went for Good Friday and Easter Saturday, which as a holiday proved difficult for some, but the drop-outs weren't sizeable. The Big Shakespeare Festival set was on the stage, a nice blank canvas with a balcony thrown in for good measure.
Production meetings happened, Martin Choules advised on stage management, Anne Gilmour agreed to handle costumes, Debbie Abel agreed to prompt, then front of house and box office were brought on board. Greg made a poster and filmed a trailer. Then we figured out a rehearsal room schedule.
 Then, suddenly, it was Good Friday and everyone gathered on the Playhouse stage at 7.30pm. I remember the incredible energy — part nervousness, part excitement. I allocated writers to directors and actors. And we were off.
To spice up the mix, each group was given a specific prop that had to be used in their play. Then the groups disappeared to the four corners of the building to discuss ideas, before the actors and directors vanished to get a night's sleep, leaving the writers to fill twelve pages of blank paper with a play.
And by 10am on the Saturday they'd done it. I'd drop in on rehearsals throughout the day to find people rehearsing happily. Then around 5pm the exhaustion kicked in — the writers who'd been up all night started to flag. But we ran the tech and things came together.
Suddenly, it was 7.45pm and we were running in front of an audience.
It was probably the most fun I've had on a Questors stage. So many things made me smile — David Hovatter's brilliant Hancock-style rant at the start of his play, Rob Vass's Churchill advertisement moment with a small dog and the sound of 'Hallelujah' playing on a Dictaphone as Wanda Duszynska and Lewis Brown slow-danced to close the show.
So, seven new plays in 24 hours, thanks to one amazingly talented group of people.
We really should do this again!
Sadly we have no record in our archives of the plays performed in the first year.
THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM (David Hovatter)
DISCORD (Shawn Lindsell)
PROVENANCE (Martin Choules)
BY ROYAL APPOINTMENT (John Barron)
THERAPY (Liz Jardine-Smith)
IDENTIFYING ALEX (Rachel Knightley)
A CLOSE SHAVE (Victoria Sandford)
[Programme}
INTO THE WILD (Greg A Smith)
A ROMAN SHIELD, A STORY IN THREE PARTS (David Hovatter)
BUSKING (Martin Choules)
SKIN DEEP (Victoria Sandford)
GRACE AND THE LOBSTERSHELL (Rachel Knightley)
ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS (John Barron)
THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL (Gemma & Scott Drummond)
[Programme]
FORECAST (Rachel Knightley)
ARRO' ARRO' ROBIN HOOD THE PANTO (Shawn Lindsell)
K I DOUBLE L (Liz Jardine-Smith)
SITH HAPPENS (Martin Choules)
LEMON CAKE (John Barron)
CINDERELLA (David Hovatter)
[Programme]
FACELESS SOULS (John Barron)
APPROPRIATION (Martin Choules)
PREY (Rachel Knightley)
CAGNEY'S CRANIUM (Andrew McGuiness)
EVENTS IN A SMALL COUNTRY TOWN (Bernice Wolfenden)
LIBERTY (David Hovatter)
DRUM (Paul James)
[Programme]
2017
TONIGHT WILL BE A MEMORY TOO (Andrew McGuiness)
THE SPECIAL ONE (David Hovatter)
DEAD AIR (Martin Choules)
NOT ABOUT THE CROWN (Rachel Knightley)
HAND OF GLORY (Greg Smith)
INSPECTION (Bernice Wolfenden)
HELMET, PRINCE OF DENMARK (Shawn Lindsell)
[Programme]
2018
'TIS SOMETHING, NOTHING (Martin Choules)
BANG BANG (Mark Hill)
TAILORED (Rachel Knightly)
FIRST IMPRESSIONS (Alex Marker)
TIME TO WRITE (Benice Wolfenden)
THE PRINCESS LIED (Lucy Aley-Parker)
ONE BILLBOARD OUTSIDE QUESTORS, EALING (David Hovatter)
[Programme]
2019
THE CATCH (Robert Gordon-Clark)
DARKNESS (David Hovatter)
THE FINAL TAKE (Alex Maker)
MIND (Maria Hummer)
THE SEANCE (Bernice Wolfenden)
HERO FOR A DAY (Martin Choules)
CUCKOO (Andrew McGuiness)
[Programme]
2020
THE QUESTORS OVERNET PLAYS
Performed online during the Covid Lockdown
ZOOM IN (David Erdos)
CINDERLOO (Lisa Day and Robert Gordon-Clark)
INSIDERS (Martin Choules)
ONCE UPON A TIME IN WEST EALING (David Hovatter)
THE TRICK (Alex Marker)
PEARLS (Laucy Aley-Parker)
THE LAST POST (John Barron)
[Programme]
2021
LOVE STORY (Robert Gordon-Clark)
THE LYING GAME (Paul Ryan)
TEAM BUILDING (Shawn Lindsell)
TORCH GIRL (David Hovatter)
GETTING AHEAD (James Rushbrooke)
TALK & CHEESE (Martin Choules)
ON A ROLL (Ben Francis)
[Programme]
2022
|
