What is a city but the people? Part live exhibition, part epic performance, 12 Last Songs will debut its unique and intimate theatrical experience to Australian audiences in the Heath Ledger Theatre at Perth Festival, for one show only on Sat 15 Feb.
With no intermission, real workers from Perth will perform paid shifts in front of a live audience from midday to midnight. This unusual and intriguing experience explores how we work, live and spend our time – inviting audiences to meet people they may not encounter in their everyday life.
As each new worker takes the stage, they discuss what they do and how they see the world. A decorator might paper a wall, a nail technician might apply a fresh set, a barista might serve up a coffee. Others who are unable to perform their shifts live – a sex worker, FIFO worker or shark spotter – might detail their day, framing the rhythms of the city through the people who make it work.
Over the 12 hours audience members can come and go as they please to witness a portrait of Perth created live onstage through its people in this joyful and touching work.
Perth Festival Artistic Director Anna Reece says:
“If you could explore life, the universe and everything in just one show, 12 Last Songs is it. It’s raw, real, gets right to the heart of everyday life, created for and with the people of Perth. It invites us all to stop, to listen to each other and feel the power in the stories and individuals we can so easily overlook. I love that we are throwing open all the doors of our Heath Ledger Theatre for a day and letting our city and its stories flood in.”
An Australian exclusive, 12 Last Songs is an extraordinary work by Manchester-based ensemble Quarantine, known around the world for their forensic interest in daily life. Quarantine has achieved international acclaim for work that is intellectually rigorous, radical in form and unique in character.
Richard Gregory, Director of 12 Last Songs and co-Artistic Director of Quarantine:
“We’re thrilled to bits to be coming to Perth with 12 Last Songs, a piece of live mass portraiture. It’s a project we love doing – a privilege to see a city through the people who work there – and Perth Festival is the perfect context to make this kaleidoscopic slice of society. It feels all the more vital at this moment in time to create situations that bring people together who might not usually share a space – and to acknowledge that it’s our differences as much as our connections that enrich our experience.”
Sat 15 Feb
Festival program is now live at perthfestival.com.au
