Clare Higgins, Patricia Hodge, Greta Scacchi and Tamzin Outhwaite are among those confirmed to participate in the Old Vic's 24 Hour Plays Celebrity Gala on 8 October, hosted by comedienne Catherine Tate.
The annual gala event at Kevin Spacey's Old Vic sees well-known actors, playwrights and directors come together to write and rehearse six short plays and subsequently perform them on the Old Vic stage, all within 24 hours.
Laurence Olivier Award winner Higgins (Hecuba, Sweet Bird Of Youth, Vincent In Brixton), Hodge (TV's Rumpole Of The Bailey), plus film and television actresses Scacchi (Emma, Presumed Innocent) and Outhwaite (Eastenders, Red Cap, Hotel Babylon) are joined in this third annual celebrity gala by Alexander Armstrong (TV's Beast, Life Begins), Tom Hardy (Layer Cake), Adrian Lukis (Cloaca at the Old Vic), Nichola McAuliffe (Kiss Me Kate, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Night Of The Iguana), Clarke Peters (Mourning Becomes Electra, the forthcoming Porgy And Bess), Rachael Stirling (TV's Tipping The Velvet, Theatre Of Blood at the National), Dominic West (The Voysey Inheritance) and Alicia Witt (currently in Piano/Forte at the Royal Court).
The esteemed actors team up with writers including Simon Farquhar (Rainbow Kiss), Bryony Lavery (Frozen), Colin Teevan (The Walls) and Sally Wainwright (TV's At Home With The Braithwaites), and directors Nikolai Foster (resident director at Sheffield Theatres), Josie Rourke (a previous participant of The 24 Hour Plays) and Bijan Sheibani (Laura Wade's Other Hands at the Soho).
"The 24 Hour Plays is a hugely challenging and energising event for everyone involved," commented producer Kate Pakenham. "It thrilled me to see what wonderful plays were written in such a short time last year, and with a team of this calibre I am extremely excited to see how they will rise to the challenge this year."
All proceeds from the gala event go to Old Vic New Voices, a programme created to nurture new talent and develop new work, which also organises the non-celebrity version of The 24 Hour Plays, aimed at budding theatre professionals aged 18-25.
Artistic Director of the Old Vic Spacey, who will introduce the gala event, said: "The actors are in for a hell of a time and we're incredibly grateful to them for supporting Old Vic New Voices' vital work to develop new writing and young talent at our theatre."
