Last Rites

Bringing together five venerable performance artists from diverse Asian cultures, Last Rites is a brand new, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary theatrical experience that confronts profound themes of endings and legacy.

At its core lies a soul-searching question: “If you could envision your last performance, what would it look like?” Through in-depth interviews with these five living artistic bodies – whose average age is 74 – the piece avoids a direct depiction of death. Instead, it traces back to their original callings, the courage they found in the face of challenges and their personal understanding of art, life and immortality.

Their narratives weave together a powerful life-tapestry of perseverance, conviction and heritage: from Yang Shi Bin’s profound bond with his mentor, Kuo Pao Kun, Jung Dong-hwan's commitment to treating every show as the last one, Nam Geung-ho's radical street performance and arrest, Kanji Shimizu’s visceral contemplation of life and death through Noh, to Didik Nini Thowok's "empty glass" philosophy and his cross-cultural advocacy despite facing multiple discriminations".

In the dialogue between the virtual and the real, imagination and projection, the stage becomes a critical boundary connecting the living and the deceased, the body and the soul. This work, presented by Emergency Stairs and directed by Liu Xiaoyi, asks a vital question: After everything ends, can an artist's spiritual legacy achieve immortality within a live performance?

There will be a post-show talk with the artists after the 23 May, 2pm Saturday performance.

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Host or Publisher yohann carbajal