theatreVOICE

Eagle-eyed readers of Time Out (London) magazine will spot a red blob in this week’s fringe theatre listings, containing a teaser trail to a new writing competition online. Those with sufficient curiosity to look up the details on timeout.com - and click on the relevant page in the theatre section - will see that they’re being asked to contribute to an epic new project by penning a short (3-10 min) podcastable play by the end of June.

The brief is simple: the submissions must be inspired, in some way, by one of five stops on the Piccadilly Line (Arnos Grove, Hounslow East, Knightsbridge, Park Royal, Turnham Green). The winning entries will then be cast, directed and recorded for streaming/downloading - as part of a year-long audio journey that will take in every single stop of the line, one drama at a time. Some of the contributions will be from well-known writers, others from up-and-comers, and, thanks to Time Out’s input, there’s the scope now for five other contenders, wherever they may hail from. In total, that’s 53 separate audio entertainments to be made available - guess what - free-of-charge, on theatrevoice.com.

This will mark a huge departure for the site - and it’s only being made possible by the extraordinary creative endeavour of volunteers at Theatre 503 in Battersea, spearheaded by programme director Gene David Kirk. Already scripts have been pouring in - and the results are looking very promising; this has the capacity to become a unique audio account of London life today, as filtered through all kinds of sensibilities.

Who knows quite what we will end up with by the end; what’s certain is the determination to bring a crazy idea to fruition and let multiple imaginations run riot. I have to confess at this point that it was my crazy idea to start with; in a drunken stupor one night waiting for a train, I started counting tube stations, and was struck by the satisfying neatness of the Piccadilly Line’s 52 stops (this was before Heathrow Terminal 5 opened - and, before you ask, Simon Stephens has nabbed that one).

Could it be possible - should it be attempted? The people at 503 said ‘Go for it’ - so here we are, a long way in, but still some way from seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Let us know what you think; better still, join the adventure and submit a script - you can find a very clear overview of the competition, again, on the Theatre 503 site. Gene and I, among others, will be keeping you updated about the project. Personally, I can’t wait to hear a sample of the mini-musical that’s in development - how will it go? ‘Goodbye, Piccadilly, Farewell Leicester Square. It’s a long, long way to Ruislip Manor… And my Oyster card’s no-go’?

Nah, scrub that. Watch this space…

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 11:24 pm, by Dominic Cavendish and is filed under Audio 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.