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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