In Association - Working with artists to support their artistic initiatives

Request Programme by Franz Xaver Kroetz

Performed by Jane Longhurst

2023 Earl Arts Centre - Theatre North - Launceston

Thu, May 25 7:30pm

Fri, May 26 7:30pm

Sat, May 27 1.30pm

PART TWO of the Black Bag Trilogy

At the end of a typical work day, a woman returns to her apartment and closes the door. She changes her clothes, prepares a simple meal, listens to the radio, dedicates some time to a craft hobby, cleans up, showers, prepares for bed. One final devastating act occurs as the play’s climax.

The entire performance is conducted in real time, over 70minutes, without a single word uttered. This silent monologue is a portrait of loneliness, arguably more relevant and devastating today than fifty years ago when the play was written. Through its meticulous observation of the mundane, the central character, though mute, speaks for all the voiceless and socially isolated individuals in our community. Current social research reveals the depth of our loneliness.

In 2018, Australian Psychological Society in conjunction with Swinburne University of Technology published research that showed 25% of all Australians reported feeling lonely for most of every week. For leading social researcher Hugh Mackay, this one in four statistic points to a ‘… virtual epidemic of loneliness’ even before the Covid-19 pandemic hit. A team of Tasmania’s finest performing artists and designers will craft the Tasmanian Premiere of this remarkable work. Within the intimate setting of Detached Gallery, you are invited to experience this silent meditation, this performance of a show that has been described by The New York Times as a ‘living centre of an installation,’ and ‘devastating, heart-wrenching, extraordinary.’

Duration: 1 hour, 10 minutes – no interval

In 2020/21 Blue Cow worked alongside Jane Longhurst in her first production of a trilogy, Happy Days by Samuel Beckett.