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Some of the UK’s most exciting artistic talent has one week to respond to the biggest news story of the moment in present : tense / four. present : tense challenges playwrights, directors, film makers, poets and musicians to create a piece of work in response to the news in just seven days, to be performed for the public on Sunday 4 March at Trafalgar Studios in London’s West End. The artists convened yesterday, Sunday 25 February, to scour the papers. They decided the forthcoming General Synod vote on homosexuality in the Anglican church was the most significant story on the news agenda. Each artist now has one week to formulate a response to that story in their own medium. Throughout the week, the public can follow their progress on the present : tense blog at www.nabokov online.com/ptblog where each artist is posting daily updates on their progress. Artists include playwrights Mike Bartlett (My Child, Royal Court); Joel Horwood (Food, The Traverse) and Drew Paultz (Someone Else’s Shoes, Soho Theatre); directors Josie Rourke (The Cryptogram, Donmar; King John, RSC), Matthew Dunster (Love & Money, Young Vic), George Perrin (Terre Haute, Trafalgar Studios) and James Grieve (Kitchen, Bedtime for Bastards); poets Kat Francois (World Slam Champion and BBC Slam Champion) and Tim Clare; and musicians Catherine Taylor Dawson and Joel Lindsey. present : tense is curated by new writing theatre company nabokov. It aims to be backlash theatre at its most responsive, offering practitioners the chance to have their say on the most important issue of the day. The first present : tense in October 2005 saw artists respond to the terror attacks in Bali; present : tense / two in February 2006 tackled the assisted suicide of Dr Anne Turner and present : tense / three in October 2006 responded to the Brixton McDonalds shootings.