Rough and rude: Globe to show modern nightlife

The work is the latest in a series of commissions designed to breathe new life into the open-air theatre.

Dominic Dromgoole, the venue's artistic director, said The Frontline, by Camden-born writer Che Walker, was "incredibly rough and incredibly rude and brutal and full of life that we've never seen on the Globe stage before".

He continued: "It will be quite a rude surprise to lots of people who have expectations of what a Globe production should be which is an excellent thing.

"New plays are fundamental to remind people that the Globe was the greatest writers' theatre of all time and put the writer at the centre of the experience. And it's important that young writers learn how to use a big space."

The Frontline takes place almost in real time from 2am until 3.30am. It is, said Dromgoole, a "big panoramic contemporary play in the tradition of London comedies of which there were many in Elizabethan and Jacobean times".

Walker, 36, is the author of three previous works produced by the Royal Court and the Paines Plough company.

He said: "I've had the idea in my head for a long time. I was waiting for a night bus once in Camden because I now live further up in Gospel Oak.

I was just struck by the extraordinary scenes outside the station - the incredible swirl of characters and humanities - and I just thought it would make a fantastic play."

The idea became a reality after Walker met Dromgoole at a wedding. The director cast the writer, who is also an actor, in Othello last year to get a sense of how to work on the Globe stage.

Walker stressed that The Frontline could be set in many parts of London, saying: "Although I'm from Camden, it could be anywhere."

The other new work this season will be Liberty, set in the French Revolution and written in "idiomatic verse" by the poet Glyn Maxwell.

David Calder, a regular of both stage and television, will take on King Lear.

There will also be productions of the rarely seen Timon Of Athens, The Merry Wives Of Windsor and A Midsummer Night's Dream, which has been done only once before at the reincarnated Globe. The 2008 season opens on 23 April and runs until 5 October.