Combining a Dr Strangelove-inspired performance with a daring forum for public conversation, this show explores ageing, anxiety, hidden desires and how to look forward when the future is uncertain.
The stage features a round table, doomsday images projected on a screen, echoing the War Room in Stanley Kubrick’s film. In our Situation Room, twelve audience members are invited to become a Council of Elders to discuss the global issues of the day, as the company weave in satirical insights and spirit-lifting humour.
Adopting the characters of a bombastic general and ineffectual president, Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver of Split Britches lace this interactive piece with both playful urgency and lethargy, encouraging discussion about the political landscape.
The pioneering theatre-makers see unexploded ordnances (bombs and weapons) as a metaphor for the unexplored potential of older people and hope to uncover buried resources in us all.
Part of our 2018 Season, The Art of Change, which explores how artists respond to, reflect and can potentially effect change in the social and political landscape. Find out more here.
1 hour/no interval
Age guidance 16+
Thur 17 May
BSL-interpreted performance
Thu 17 May
Post-show talk (BSL-interpreted)
Free to same-day ticket holders
19-20 May
Weekend Lab led by Lois Weaver
This performance contains strobe lighting.
Presented by the Barbican. Development supported by In Company Collective with additional support from the Barbican, Doris Duke Foundation and Queen Mary University. Part of Sky Arts Art 50.
