Manchester Theatre has been incredibly lucky to have a twin driving force in the shapes of David Slack and Amanda Hennessy to put theatre outside of normal theatre experience. The 24:7 Theatre Festival they formed (now in its 5th Year) gets new plays performed every year in alternative venues. That is venues that aren’t normally used for putting shows on.  I would say it’s a little like the Edinburgh Fringe, except luckily there’s less venues to trot to. The venues are The Midland hotel, Pure in the Printworks and the music store Zavvi in the Arndale Centre.

Last year Pure looked pretty impressive as a theatrical venue so I suspect it will be even better this year.

The 24:7 team are putting on 16 new plays which is pretty strenuous going and on their web site you can actually listen to clips from each show – which must be a first, surely?

Anyway, it all kicks off on the 20th July and runs until Sunday 27th July. Tickets are ridiculously cheap (£6) and you should go and see one. Let me know what you think.

An interesting Manchester blog that I discovered through an email from David Slack who is the co-organiser of the 24:7 theatre festival is called What Would You Do?

The author, Elizabeth Baines, is writing a story week by week and at the end of each “chapter” we’re allowed to choose some of the future plot direction. She started on the 4th September and is the second week now. The story continues in Manchester’s Central Library and you get to vote on which inhabitant of the house from the first episode helps Cat on the trail of someone mysterious…

Ooh, sounds like a who-dunnit!

The final chapter is going to be performed at the Manchester Blog Awards which should be good fun.

So get on over and check the story out. Help out by voting for your preferred plot direction. Although I must admit I just chose a name at random because I don’t really identify with the characters yet.

Manchester’s theatrical festival frenzy of the month starts on the 23rd July and runs until the 29th July.

David Slack and Amanda Hennessy have been the tireless organisers behind it all. And since starting 4 years ago they’re now putting on 105 performances across Manchester city centre in a non-theatre venues.

• The Midland Hotel (Victoria Suite)
• Pure in The Printworks (with 3 different venues)

The great thing about all this is that David and Amanda are giving aspiring writers of comedy and drama the ability to present their new works. And just to make sure everything is up to scratch they vet all the scripts of all the new plays themselves.

You can check out the 24:7 Theatre Festival web site for yourself for details of the plays and to buy tickets.