Billy Bragg and the Archbishop in 24-hour Bible bash at the Bush

A stellar line-up of writers from the Archbishop of Canterbury to Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka via Stewart Lee, Billy Bragg and Carol Ann Duffy, are creating an epic launch for the new Bush Theatre.

The venue will officially open its doors in October with a 24-hour cycle of special commissions from 66 writers, musicians and thinkers taking inspiration from each of the books of the King James Bible.

The works will be presented in three-hour programmes in the inaugural season of the Bush's new home in a former library not far from its existing base above a Shepherd's Bush pub.

In an ambitious start to the residency, the opening "night" will involve every response - from poems and songs to plays - performed in a single 24-hour cycle. The season will also conclude with a full day-long performance.

Artistic director Josie Rourke, who will leave the Bush to run the Donmar at the end of his inaugural season at the new Bush, said: "I wanted to open the building with a celebration of lots of artists starting with writers and with something that was totally celebratory and epic."

The contributors range from poets Nick Laird, Andrew Motion and Owen Sheers to Evita lyricist Tim Rice, authors Kate Mosse and Stella Duffy and playwrights Neil LaBute and Kwame Kwei Armah.

"Some people have responded quite laterally," Ms Rourke said. With 47 of the 66 works already in, the job of casting has begun. The season will also include a series of new plays including work by residents who are being encouraged to try their hand at writing for the first time.

Sixty-Six Books formally opens the new Bush on October 14. A test-run of the new space starts next week with three short plays, Where's My Seat. A seat shortage means ticket-holders are being encouraged to donate a chair in return for a free drink.

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