Split Britches

Founded in New York in 1980 with Deb Margolin, Split Britches continues with the duo and solo work of Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw which spans satirical, gender-bending performance, methods for public engagement, videography, digital and print media, explorations of ageing and wellbeing, and iconic lesbian-feminist theatre.

Over the past 40 years Split Britches’ interconnected repertoire of performance and engagement work has expanded and projects have increasingly fed into the development of one another. Last Gasp is the result of research undertaken during the 2018-2019 Split Britches Call and Response Tour throughout the US and UK, a tour of the performances Unexploded Ordnances (UXO) and Retro(per)spective which housed sustained conversation in connected engagement activities and platforms. 

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Weaver and Shaw were keen to maintain momentum for their postponed new live work Last Gasp while having to ‘work from home’. Last Gasp WFH was developed in a site-specific Zoom format using their quarantine home as a structural visual anchor and experimenting with the digital stage as a source of legitimate performance. Working with La MaMa ETC (NYC), the performance was shown to global audiences on demand and in virtual live screenings accompanied by talkbacks. Their latest performance Last Gasp: A Recalibration builds on this work to create a hybrid live-digital show, which premiered at the Barbican in October 2021 in London and at La Mama the following year  Last Gasp: A Recalibration is currently touring the US and UK. 

Continuing work includes Weaver’s Public Address Systems (PAS) project which creates spaces for public discussion that are hospitable and open, where alternatives can be modeled and critical questions staged. These protocols for conversation including Long Tables, Care Cafes, Public Studios, Porch Sittings are Open Source are available on the Splilt_Britches.Com website and are disseminated internationally.

Weaver and Shaw are currently working  with filmmaker, Claire Nolan and producer, Matt Delbridge on a film documenting their 40 year partnership in Spit Britches.