14/48 Takeover International puts Leicester’s young writers on the
International stage!
www.1448uk.com/takeover
14/48 The World’s Quickest Theatre Festival is giving 12 young Leicester writers the
opportunity to have their plays performed in Leicester, Wolverhampton and Seattle on
Monday 29th May. 14/48 Takeover International will be closing this year’s Spark Children’s
arts festival by staging 2 plays written by young Leicester writers, 1 play written by young
writers from Wolverhampton, and 1 play written by young people in Seattle.
The plays will be written by young people over the weekend of Saturday 27th and Sunday
28th May, with 12 young writers in Leicester teamed up with Professional Playwright Alison
Dunne, and Youth Theatre Director Paul Rogers. All Leicester based activity takes place at
The Y, East Street, with the project funded by Arts Council England.
So what’s so quick about it? The regular 14/48 festival sees 14 plays written and performed
in 48 hours, with writers given just 10 hours to write a ten minute play, and casts given just
10 hours to bring the productions to the stage. 14/48 Takeover International will see 4 plays
written by around 28 young people in 3 cities over a 48 hour period. The plays are then
handed over to around 75 professional theatre-makers with directors and cast drawn at
random, and given just 10 hours to prepare for a family friendly performance at 6pm
complete with set, costume, and music from a live house band.
Performances are to be filmed in all three cities, and uploaded online, giving the young
writers the chance to see their writing staged in 3 ways by creative teams in each city.
“I really liked writing and it made me want to write more” Young writer from 2016’s 14/48
Takeover.
“There is nothing like the energy, talent and unbounded creativity of 14/48. There is no other
form of theatre that I look forward to more.” Audience member
14/48 originates in Seattle, and claims Leicester as it’s home city here in the UK, with
festivals in Wolverhampton and London having joined the international programme of
festivals over the last couple of years.
So what can we expect to see on the 29th May at 6pm when the doors open to the public? It’s
all down to the luck of the draw, and the imagination of our international team of young
writers.
The festival and its ideals were established in Seattle in 1997. Leicester is the UK’s hub for
the festival, developing festivals in a series of other Cities in partnership with regional
Producers.
Listings information:
Writing Workshops
Venue: The Y, 7 East Street, Leicester, LE1 6EY
Date – Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th May
Time – 10am to 3pm each day
Price - £25 per young person aged 8-14 for both days including lunch
Performance
Venue: The Y, 7 East Street, Leicester, LE1 6EY
Date – Monday 29th May
Time – 6pm
Price - £4
For further information about 14/48 Takeover International, or 14/48 Leicester contact Bob
Christer, Executive Producer at [email protected]
Notes to Editors:
.

14/48 UK oversees the 14/48 festivals in the UK, producing festivals in Leicester,
Wolverhampton and London as well as spin-off festivals in partnership with the
Spark Arts for Children and Leicester Comedy Festival. www.1448uk.com

14/48 Leicester is a member of the Leicester Arts Festivals network
http://www.leicesterartsfestivals.org.uk/
High resolution images available on request