PRODUCTION NOTES :

Cenacolo Secondo (The Second Last Supper)
A showing of a creative development process undertaken in residence at the Performance Space

Milan, Italy, Passover 2033:

A perfectly stage-managed corporate event beneath the gaze of da Vinci’s Cenacolo begins unravelling early when due to an error in the Italian postal system the invitations to the Apostles were sent to Australians.
Both Judas and Jesus, the guy with the script, are notably absent.
Treachery lurks in the wings.

Of concern in The second Last Supper is, among other things, the question of politics, and the ability of performance to represent this. The notion of a ‘political theatre’ has become associated with performance that is often depressingly didactic and naïvely simplistic. This need not necessarily be the case. Is it not possible that performance can be simultaneously aesthetically engaging and politically driven, can represent and speak of the experience of living here now, in this place, in this world? We aim to create a work that is pleasurable to the spectator and communicates effectively a real experience by real people in a real world (a political act- the personal is still political. We haven’t forgotten this.)

All that said, I admit that we have become a trifle distracted from this purpose by our own personal obsessions, by the food and certainly by the wine. But aren’t these the places one hides when one is disenfranchised by those who run the world?

In this show we eat, drink, and together wait for the end of the world. That’s fun too.

And so this is what we came up with. Enjoy, and make sure you have a drink.

David Williams, version 1.0, April 2000

Production History:
Saturday 22nd April 2000, Performance Space, Sydney.

PRODUCTION CREDITS :

Devised and performed by:
Stephen Klinder
Chris Ryan
Yana Taylor
Rohan Thatcher
Beck Wilson
David Williams

With special assistance from:
Mark Byrne
Kate Golla