As part of the AK05 festival, The Edge is doing a series of fringe events called ‘Conversations at the Very Edge’. Stars from a lot of the shows are chatting to each other every lunchtime this week and next. This will be fantastic. I mean, check this out:

At ‘Adaptation and Inspiration’, this Thursday the third, we will have the opportunity to see two of the most outstanding dramatic writers in the world in conversation with some brilliant producers. Ready? It’s hot stage scribe du jour Stephen Sewell, writer of The Three Furies (AK05 play about the life of Francis Bacon) and Stephen Berkoff (above), the mad genius we saw many times in London in the nineties doing such wild stuff as East, West, Salome and Greek – still probably my most electrifying theatre experience ever.

Aussie writer Stephen Sewell is so hot right now he’s got two plays on in London and at least one in Sydney, as well as The Three Furies about to start here. He’s also well-known in the industry for having had fan mail from Harold Pinter. And you can’t really get better than that...

They’re chatting with forum moderator Murray Edmond, poet and Senior Lecturer in Drama at Auckland Uni, Colin McColl, the new Artistic Director of the Auckland Theatre Company, and Justin Lewis, Co-ordinator of Indian Ink Theatre Company, the originators of the magnificent Krishnan’s Dairy et al.

Pretty stunning lineup eh? And it’s free, at the very gorgeous Limelight café and bar, Level 3 of the Aotea Centre at lunchtime. You can treat yourself to a 'light lunch' there from 12 noon, and the 'Conversations' start at 1pm. How incredibly civilised and stimulating.

There are lots of other great chats to go to as well, from dance to puppetry to world music. The full list is here on the AK05 site. Come on Auckland! Get your asses along there and be excited!