Can a group of people produce, rehearse and perform a play in just twenty four hours? Originating in New York (and still based there), the 24 Hour Company aims to complete this very endeavour and does so on a regular basis. They have produced over three hundred plays in nine years, and are entering their tenth season with gusto. A recent collaboration attracted performances from luminaries such as Marisa Tomei, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore.

Recently the experiment was re-created at the Old Vic in London under the watchful eyes of Kevin Spacey (artistic director of the theatre) and Anthony Head. They give advice and a masterclass for the 52 hopefuls as they embark on the process. Sky Arts was there to capture the entire day from start to finish, and their documentary (showing today at 11am and Monday 29th at 5pm) follows the youngsters as they pursue their burning desire to make a career for themselves in the cut-throat world of theatre.

The point of the exercise, apart from the end performances, was to garner the talent for the Old Vic’s New Voices project, which aims ‘to support young and emerging talent, to source and develop new work for production on The Old Vic stage, and to open up the building to new and diverse audiences’. The success of the project is apparent, as the theatre has renewed the initiative and started an exchange with New York companies to expose young UK writers to fresh ideas from across the pond. See the results of twenty four hour plays for yourself in the Sky Arts documentary.