About

Split Britches - Last Gasp: A Recalibration

Presented by Marlborough Productions

‘Not just one of the 40-year-old company’s best pieces, but among the most evocative art to emerge from the Covid era’ The New York Times

How to survive a loss. First you recalibrate...

Landing somewhere between the realms of the live and the virtual, presence and absence, between staying home and venturing out, Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver combine spoken word, movement and Zoom technology to respond to a world turned upside down.

In early 2020 these two icons of lesbian-feminist theatre set out to present 'Last Gasp', a live performance questioning demise: the demise of ageing bodies, civil conversation, and a sustainable planet. The pandemic arrived, as did a period of civil unrest that marched under the banner of ‘I can’t breathe.’ The ironies were not lost as the duo locked down, stayed in and continued their investigations resulting in a digital performance, 'Last Gasp WFH'.

Now, years later, 'Last Gasp: A Recalibration' gathers us in the same room but not as the same people. Returning to the physical stage, Shaw and Weaver re-evaluate what it means to be together in a theatre and what it means to perform in the aftermath of a foundation shattering crisis.

With episodes entitled ‘The Trump in Me’, ‘How to Set a Table in an Emergency’, and ‘How to Survive a Loss’, the legendary performance duo brings us together to recalibrate - not only facing demise but considering strategies for moving on.

There will be a post show conversation after the performance

Credits

Created in collaboration with Lois Weaver, Peggy Shaw, Nao Nagai, Vivian Stoll and Morgan Thorson
Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw: Writers and Performers
Lois Weaver: Director
Nao Nagai: Visual/Lighting Designer
Vivian Stoll: Sound/Music Designer
Morgan Thorson Choreographer
Susan Young: Costume
Matt Delbridge: Design Consultant
Laura Hunter Petree: Producer
Alex Legge: Tour Booker

Christa Holka: Photography

Pay What You Decide

Pay What You Decide (PWYD) tickets are available for this event. These are limited to 20 tickets per performance, with a maximum of 2 tickets available per customer. Find out more

Presented in association with Marlborough Productions. Funded by the Guggenheim Foundation, Guthrie Theater, New York State Council on the Arts, Wellcome Trust, Metal Culture and Arts Council England

About 'Last Chance WFH' (a screen-based experience alongside the 'Last Gasp' live show)

Experimenting with new ways of making and finding joy in a pandemic, and keen to maintain momentum while having to ‘work from home’, Split Britches collaborated with Nao Nagai, Vivian Stoll, and Morgan Thorson to create a new format for performance that could be shared from a time of quarantine.

Playing with the fragility of technology, particularly the unpredictability of Zoom, the team found new avenues to the classic Split Britches aesthetic of broken down theatrical conventions, exposing the self on stage. 'Last Gasp WFH' was developed in a site-specific Zoom format using their quarantine-home as a structural visual anchor. A house becomes a stage for the experience of sheltering in place, serving both as an intimate capsule of sequestered time and an apt reflection on the precarious nature of our bodies and the planet we call home.

'Last Gasp WFH' premiered live presented by La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club through the streaming service Stellar on 20 November 2020, and received two extensions and a Drama League nomination for Outstanding Digital Theatre, Individual Production.

A link and password to watch the 'Last Gasp WFH' film will be sent to all bookers of 'Last Gasp: A Recalibration'.