Scottish performance premiere will build a fascinating portrait of Glasgow and its workers
12 Last Songs
Saturday 19 October 2024, 12 noon – midnight
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Audiences invited to come and go over the course of the 12-hour performance
Manchester theatre company Quarantine are set to bring their extraordinary durational performance 12 Last Songs to Glasgow Life’s Tramway this autumn, for its Scottish premiere.
12 Last Songs will recruit workers from Glasgow, to showcase what they do and how they spend their time; how they make a living, find their passion, and watch the clock. There are no actors, instead – during the course of the 12-hour show – workers perform paid shifts. A builder might build a wall, a hairdresser might cut someone’s hair, a chef might prepare a meal… 12 Last Songs constructs a fleeting portrait of society.
The performance is somewhere between a live exhibition and an epic performance, which frames the rhythms of the city through the people who make it work. This performance has added significance as it’s a return for Quarantine to Tramway, where they made and presented their very first piece, See-Saw, in 2000, and later Butterfly (2004) and Old people, children & animals (2006) – all featuring and focusing on people’s real lives and experiences.
As the name might suggest, 12 Last Songs will only be presented 12 times, anywhere. The Tramway outing is the 7th iteration of a show that is remade every time it reaches another city, shaped by the people who work there. Directed by Richard Gregory, it’s an extraordinary work by Manchester-based ensemble Quarantine, known around the world for their forensic interest in daily life.
Richard Gregory – Director of 12 Last Songs and co-Artistic Director of Quarantine said: “Without a doubt, Tramway changed and shaped the way I think about performance – from the glorious event of Jock Tamson’s Bairns in 1990, through to the brilliant Belgians in that decade and lately with recent performances by Trajal Harrell and Carolina Bianchi. I love the space. We’re delighted and honoured to be back in the building with 12 Last Songs, a piece of live mass portraiture. It’s a project we love doing – a privilege to see a city through the people who work there. It feels all the more vital at this moment in time to create situations that bring people together who might not usually share a space – and to acknowledge that it’s our differences as much as our connections that enrich our experience.”
Jenny Crowe, Senior Arts Manager for Glasgow Life, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Quarantine back to Tramway as they bring this epic work to Glasgow. Following performances of 12 Last Songs around the world – the most recent being in Reykjavik, Iceland – we’re excited to present this latest version which will feature workers in Glasgow and paint a unique living portrait of this diverse and ever-changing city.”
12 Last Songs is co-commissioned by Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts; Cambridge Junction with the support of the Stobbs New Ideas Fund; and HOME. It was originally co-produced by Transform. 12 Last Songs is supported by Arts Council England and The Rank Foundation.
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Contact Sharon McHendry (SM Publicity on behalf of Tramway)
Phone 07970 178643
Email sharon@smpublicity.co.uk
Notes to Editors
About Tramway
Rooted locally and internationally connected, Tramway is a world-renowned arts centre in Glasgow.
Tramway’s mission is to engage, inspire and stimulate meaningful dialogue between artists and audiences by commissioning, presenting and hosting a dynamic year-round programme of free exhibitions, performance, dance, live art and engagement events.
Tramway is managed by Glasgow Life, the charity that leads culture and sport on behalf of Glasgow City Council and is a Creative Scotland Regularly Funded Organisation (RFO). For more information, visit www.tramway.org.
About Glasgow Life
Glasgow Life is a charity working for the benefit of the people of Glasgow. We believe everyone deserves a great Glasgow life and we find innovative ways to make this happen across the city’s diverse communities.
Our programmes, experiences and events range from grassroots community activities to large-scale cultural, artistic and sporting events which present Glasgow on an international stage. Our work is designed to promote inclusion, happiness and health, as well as support the city’s visitor economy, in order to enhance Glasgow’s mental, physical and economic wellbeing.
For more information, see www.glasgowlife.org.uk
About Quarantine
‘Quarantine is a group of people working together as artists and producers who are united by an interest in everyday life. Our work across performance and other forms deals with the politics and aesthetics of contemporary experience and how we relate to one another. Rooted in Manchester, England since 1998, we make and tour our work around the world.’
Images courtesy Transform and Quarantine, 2021.
Photos: JMA Photography
