Most playwrights begin the painstaking process of penning a script with at least a storyline in mind.

But all Jonathan Kaufman offered his talented cast to play with was a name and place in time, leaving the rest in their theatrical hands – even allowing them to create their own characters.

The exciting result is Halcyon Days, an original off-the-cuff comedy drama set in 1969 which “unearths the contradictions of a society caught between optimism and decline”.

Opening at The Hob in Forest Hill, each role has been lovingly based on one of the actor’s personal friends or family members who would have been the character’s age in the 60s.

Jonathan, creative director of Spontaneous Productions theatre company, devised the show using renowned director Mike Leigh’s method.

He said: “The actors didn’t meet in person - they only met each other in character.

“Each character met their partners to start with.

“They were meeting strangers – they literally didn’t know who they were going to encounter.

“Much to my delight the main characters charmed each other to pieces.

“They have a love/hate relationship very much like Pat and Frank Butcher.

“We were laughing and laughing.

“We think it’s funny, we just hope the audience does too.”

The actors bounced off each other during their improvised sessions to create a script Jonathan says he could not have written himself.

“Because the characters were created by the actors they know them very intimately.” He added.

News Shopper: Spontaneous show Halcyon Days promises gangsters, controversy and laughs

“They are reacting in the moment and if someone’s abusive to them they give as good as they get.

“It’s magical really.

“People come out with outrageous things and they are absolutely spontaneous – things happen that you wouldn’t dream of.

“I’m a writer but they came up with a dialogue I don’t think any writer would ever come up with.

“It’s a very exciting, organic process.”

Set in Catford during a time when gangsters like the Kray twins and Richardson brothers were busy nailing people to the floor and chopping off their toes, Halcyon Days centres on a family and the new partners fate throws their way.

Eddie, widowed father of two daughters, is a “dodgy geezer” and part-time chef whose “suave and cheeky charm” helps him woo ex air hostess Gloria.

His eldest daughter Pamela, a university student with dreams of changing the world with poetry and folk music, falls for hippy Nick and his youngest Patty – a trainee hairdresser - causes controversy when she finds love with Guyanese medical student Marlon.

Jonathan continued: “Eddie has some dealings with the Kray twins and Richardson brothers.

“The best comedies come from truth and characters that you care about are inevitably going to be funnier.

“The audience needs to take to them, to route for them and care about them.

“It’s like Basil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers, David Brent from The Office and Del Boy from Only Fools and Horses – monstrous characters but we really care for them.”

A swinging 60s soundtrack with tracks by The Kinks, The Turtles, Diana Ross and the Supremes and even Frank Sinatra accompany Spontaneous Productions’ exciting show.

It will be Jonathan’s fourth devised production since 1998.

Performances take place upstairs at The Hob in Devonshire Road, Forest Hill, from 7.30pm every night between Tuesday March 13 and Friday March 16 with one show on Sunday March 18 at 4.30pm.

Tickets are £12 and £10 for concessions and can be bought on the door or reserved over the phone on 0208 8550496.