Nice to meet you, what do you do?
12 Last Songs is about work and how we spend our time.
Making a living. Finding your passion. Watching the clock.
12 Last Songs constructs a fleeting portrait of society. There are no actors. It’s a live exhibition of people, an epic performance that casts the steady rhythms of life on a carnival scale.
From midday to midnight, workers will perform paid shifts. A builder might build a wall, a hairdresser might cut someone’s hair, a chef might prepare a meal…
This extraordinary durational production is created with the people of Manchester. Directed by Richard Gregory, it’s the latest work by Manchester-based ensemble Quarantine (Wallflower) known around the world for their forensic interest in daily life.
12 Last Songs takes place over 12 hours. Audiences can come and go as they please over the course of the day.
“A reminder that all lives are extraordinary in their ordinariness” – The Stage
Image Credit: David Lindsay
Creative team
- Concept & direction – Richard Gregory
- Designer – Simon Banham
- Lighting Designer – Mike Brookes
- Collaborating Artist/Assistant Director – Sarah Hunter
- Collaborating Digital Artists – Lowri Evans & Lisa Mattocks
- Questions text – Sarah Hunter, Leentje Van De Cruys & Quarantine
- Dramaturgy – Renny O’Shea, Sarah Hunter & Leentje Van De Cruys
- Project Animateur – Chi Emecheta
- Production Manager – Greg Akehurst
- Technical Managers – Adam Steed & Ed Jeffreys
- Producer – Ali Dunican
- Marketing and Communications – Edwina Supyue McEachran
About Quarantine
Quarantine is a Manchester-based ensemble of artists and producers who have been making work for 24 years. United by an interest in what it means to be alive right now, they have achieved international acclaim for work that is intellectually rigorous, radical in form, and unique in character. Past works include dance marathon Wallflower, the epic quartet of live performance and film Summer. Autumn. Winter. Spring.; and the ongoing, monthly curry and conversation event No Such Thing.
12 Last Songs is co-commissioned by HOME, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts and Cambridge Junction with the support of Stobbs New Idea Fund. Originally co-produced with Transform.
12 Last Songs is supported by Arts Council England and The Rank Foundation.
