Rob Brydon and Katherine Parkinson also among performers for theatre’s celebrity-studded overnight playwriting fundraiser

Mackenzie Crook, Lily Cole and Katherine Parkinson are among those taking up the challenge of the Old Vic’s 24 Hour Plays Celebrity Gala this year.

The gala event, which was first held in 2004, brings together about 50 established actors, writers and directors to create six new short plays in a single day. It aims to raise funds for The Old Vic Theatre Trust, a charity set up to support both the Old Vic’s work and the theatre building itself. It also encompasses Old Vic New Voices, the education and community department, which has run its own 24 Hour Plays event every year since 2005.

Rob Brydon will host the gala itself on 13 November, with the creative team gathering for the first time at 10pm the previous night. Writers including Roy Williams, Jack Thorne and Amy Rosenthal will have until dawn to come up with a 10-minute play. After an intensive day of rehearsals, each work will then be performed on the Old Vic stage.

Casting is ongoing, but performers currently confirmed also include Jane Asher, Anthony Head, Mathew Horne, Gina McKee and Robert Glenister, who is currently in rehearsals for the Old Vic’s forthcoming production of Michael Frayn’s Noises Off. Sanjeev Bhaskar will also return, having performed in the very first 24 Hour Plays.

Directors will include the Donmar Warehouse’s incoming artistic director Josie Rourke, as well as Tamara Harvey and Simon Godwin, associate directors at the Bush theatre and Royal Court respectively.

Meanwhile, the Broadway version of the 24 Hour Plays will mark the theatre debut of Transformers actress Megan Fox.

Fox will join a cast set to include Woody Harrelson and Jason Biggs for the event on 13 November at the American Airlines theatre. Three Pulitzer Prize winners, David Lindsay-Abaire, Doug Wright and Lynn Nottage, are among the writing team.

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Lily Cole felt “hugely liberated” to complete her degree at Cambridge University.

The model-and-actress – who obtained a double first in History of Art from the British educational institution – admitted she came close not to finishing her studies because she was “so exhausted” after having to juggle academia and acting.

She said: “I feel hugely liberated. I’m super glad that I managed to finish it – and semi-surprised.

“The closest I came to not finishing it was the day before my last exam. I was so exhausted. I’d been drinking a lot of coffee. I would never mind not doing the best if I felt like I gave my best effort.”

The 23-year-old star also explained while she used to “p**s people off” with her ideas of ethical living, she is still in “constant dialogue” with herself about shunning the material world.

Lily added in an interview with Style magazine: “It’s a constant dialogue with myself. With some friends yesterday, we were having a conversation about the material world versus the spiritual, and there are arguments for enjoying beauty and having less things, but things you love.

“It’s always been cooler and safer to just not say anything and not care. I know I used to piss people off. Now I try not to talk too much and just do what I can.”

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