The Lowryhas commisioned aworld premiere multisensory theatre experience of a future Guantanamo Bay.
Last Resort, created by 2Magpies Theatre, explores enhanced interrogation techniques used in Guantanamo Bay, and the imagined future of a troubled past in a tropical paradise, as part of The Lowry’s Week 53 Festival.
Last Resort will invite audiences backstage to The Lowry’s scene dock – the area between the venue’s Lyric and Quays Theatres – for a multisensory experience in the Cuban holiday resort of Guantanamo Bay, set in an imagined future when deckchairs and cocktail bars now stand on the site of the old military detention centre.
The audience will sit in deck chairs, feel the sand between their toes and taste a Cuban cocktail, all to the soundtrack of hit songs which have been used to psychologically torture captives at the Guantanamo prison.
Last Resort asks the questions: How do we deal with terror suspects? How far would and should we go to protect ourselves from attack? Can we conceal the scars left on a tropical paradise after the waterboarding has stopped?
Tom Barnes and Eve Parmiter have created, and will also perform, Last Resort. Both come from a background of International Politics. 2Magpies’ Director Tom Barnes has a Masters in International Security and Terrorism and collaborator Eve Parmiter has an undergraduate degree in International Relations and a Masters in Gender Studies. Eve has also been using forum theatre in her work with the British Military for the last 5 years.
Tom Barnes said; “The research phase of this project has been fascinating, working with a number of experts who deal with questions around terrorism every day. Our development process is like a political inquiry, but rather than becoming an essay or report, it’s an hour long contemporary performance. Hopefully our audience will take something from this performance that they’ll never have found from reading a newspaper or watching a film.”
2Magpies Theatre has received critical acclaim for exciting live performances in unique locations. In May this year the company are heading off on a UK tour with Ventoux, a restaging of the dramatic battle between Lance Armstrong and Marco Pantani in the Tour de France 2000 on Mont Ventoux.
Last Resort is part of The Lowry’s Week 53 Festival – a major commissioning project for the venue. This eleven day festival will bring together contemporary dance, visual arts, music and theatre in interactive installations, exhibitions and performances. Week 53 is set to feature 63 performances and exhibitions created by more than 200 international artists. The festival is about presenting innovative, provocative national and international work in a series of spaces including areas of the building normally off-limits to the public.
Listings Information
Last Resort
2Magpies Theatre, A Lowry Commission
Fri 6 May – Sat 7 May
Times: Fri 7:30pm, 8:30pm
Tickets £10:00
For more information on the full programme for Week 53: http://www.week53festival.co.uk/programme/
