Autumn sky and old theatre chums

A long walk in the morning, a lovely talk with Margie, and then… (those who are not interested in theatre and its evolutions during Covid-19 may skip the rest of this).

My old colleagues Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver have done it again, a Last Gasp (WFH)* zoom production created when they were stuck in London and unable to perform at the Barbican nor to move the show to La Mama in NYC after it (would have) closed in London. 

So they created the show on Zoom! Their phones and laptops were the only cameras. They had the help of a lighting designer in London, a choreographer in Minneapolis, and an editor and sound engineer in (I think) New York, all during lockdown. 

As a critic I say the show has some slow spots—it lasts an hour and 27 minutes, and they usually craft their shows to be no longer than an hour and 10 minutes, which I think would have been right for this one. But I am swept away by Peggy’s monologs and the ways Lois supports Peggy in being able to perform. They both deal with aging, and Peggy incorporates her recovery from stroke and her inability to memorize scripts, along with her awareness of being an old woman (can we use the word ‘woman’?) trying to figure out what language is now socially acceptable for a white Queer performer/writer to use. I last saw Lois and Peggy in the 90s, so of course I am shocked to see that they are as old as I am and did not freeze in time in the 90s; but once I get used to that, I am grateful to see them again without having to fly to New York or London.

Like Silent Voices, Last Gasp was meant to be a stage play. But because of the pandemic, it’s now more than that. And it can reach more people. 

If you can access the New York Times article here, by all means do. It includes some wonderful photographs of the two of them. But if the paywall stops you and you’d like to see their work, it’s available online until December 12 if you’re willing to pay $5 (I don’t yet know if it’s available in the UK, though I think it should be) on this website: lamama.org

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*Working From Home