LOIS WEAVER/SPLIT BRITCHES

SIZE OF COMPANY
1–3 on the road

SCALE OF VENUE
Small- to middle-scale

PERMANENT STAFF
Director/Performer/Collaborator
Lois Weaver

Writer/Performer/Collaborator
Peggy Shaw

ARTISTIC POLICY
Split Britches Company creates new forms by exploiting old conventions. It borrows from classical texts and popular myths but its true sources are the details of everyday life. The work is personal, bordering on the private. It relies on moments rather than plot, relationships rather than story. It is about a community of outsiders, queers, eccentrics – feminist because it encourages the imaginative potential in everyone, and lesbian because it takes the presence of a lesbian on stage as a given.

REVIEW EXTRACTS
‘Split Britches meaningfully extended the post-1960s political theatre mandate of combining art and life… Their performances are sites of clarity, inspiration and community.’ NYC Village Voice

‘Shaw and Weaver are as impressive as ever, expertly challenging the constraints of cultural norms and tickling the audience's funny bone while they're at it.’ Offoffonline, NYC

‘They created a unique postmodern style that served to embed issues of the times in humorous deconstructions of canonical texts, lip-synching satire, lyrical love scenes, and dark, frightening explorations of class and gender violence.’ Sue Ellen Case, Professor of Critical Studies, UCLA

CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
Retro Perspective A Split Britches primer featuring a medley of work that has made the politics of gender and sexuality and the humour of human relations assessable to all ages and persuasions for the last 30 years. Performed by Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw (60–75 mins, 2 on stage, 2–3 on the road, flexible space requirements.)

Diary of a Domestic Terrorist Written and performed by Lois Weaver, a lecture performance that examines performance strategies that use private details as a means of public resistance. (40–50 mins, 1 on stage, flexible space requirements.)

What Tammy Needs to Know Written and performed by Lois Weaver with music by Paul Clark. A performance installation that incorporates autobiographical text, original music and audience. (60 mins, 1 on stage, 1–2 on the road, flexible space requirements.)

FUTURE PRODUCTION
Miss America Created by Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw, a humorous critique of age, gender, nationality and beauty contests (70 mins, 2 on stage, 2–3 on the road, flexible space requirements.)

WRAP-AROUND
Hands-on performance workshops; performing rights workshops; long tables on issues of performance, social engagement and human rights; Tammy Why Not Walkabouts and after-show discussions and talks.

RECENT INTERNATIONAL WORK
2007 Argentina, USA (Retro Perspective/It’s a Small House and We Lived in it Always/Long Tables), Austria (Long Tables/Library of Performing Rights/Tammy Why Not)
2006 Finland, Greece, Poland (What Tammy Needs to Know/Diary of a Domestic Terrorist)
2005 Australia, Canada, China (On the Scent in collaboration with Curious)

TOURING AVAILABILITY
Throughout 2008