KEVIN SPACEY - STARS JOIN SPACEY IN THEATRE MARATHON

KEVIN SPACEY has persuaded stars including CHRISTIAN SLATER, FIONA SHAW and SAMUEL WEST to take up the challenge of creating and presenting six plays in 24 hours to raise money for his London theatre, the Old Vic. The actors will join writers and directors in what will be the fourth 24-Hour Plays gala on 11 November. The event is to raise $250,000 (GBP125,000) for the Old Vic's New Voices programme which discovers and develops new artistic talent in theatre. Spacey, the theatre's artistic director, says: "If you've done well in the business you wanted to do well in - and I've done better than I ever hoped - then you should spend an awful lot of time and effort sending the elevator back down."