Theatre studio space with audience seated around the edge of the space. There are performers across the stage standing in various positions. There tables, chairs, theatre lamps and a projection screen spread across the space.

12 Last Songs

Quarantine

14 Mar

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Limited Availability

Information

Time: 12pm to midnight

Tickets: Pay What You Can (Recommended Price £20)*

*all orders subject to a transaction fee of £2

Running Time: 12 hours

This is a durational performance where audiences can come and go at any point.

Age Guidance: 13+ (parental discretion)

This event takes place in person in our Grand Hall

Nice to meet you, what do you do?

12 Last Songs is part live exhibition, part epic performance. It’s about work and how we spend time. Making a living. Finding your passion. Watching the clock.

From midday to midnight on Saturday 14 March, real workers from London will perform paid shifts on stage, in front of a live audience. There are no actors. A builder might build a wall, a hairdresser might cut someone’s hair, a chef might prepare a meal. We’ll find out what they do, and how they see themselves in the world.

30 workers. 12 hours. Made for and with the people of London. 12 Last Songs frames the rhythms of the city through the people who make it work. There will be just 12 versions of 12 Last Songs taking place around the world. London is number 10.

‘Endlessly surprising – and often moving. A reminder that all lives are extraordinary in their ordinariness.’ The Stage

‘In its gentle appeal to slow down, 12 Last Songs gives the audience an opportunity to consider beauty in places not normally associated with that word.’ Exeunt Magazine

Visiting 12 Last Songs at Battersea Arts Centre

12 Last Songs is a 12-hour live performance taking place at Battersea Arts Centre, from 12 noon to 12 midnight.

There is no fixed seating and no reserved seats, but seats will be available.

This performance will be Relaxed. We invite you to make yourself comfortable and move around if you need to, and if you need to leave the performance at any point you will be allowed to return to the space when you feel ready.

Your ticket is valid for the entire 12 hours, and you can arrive at any time and stay for as long (or as little) as you like.

Advance Tickets

A limited number of tickets will be available to buy in advance.

On the day tickets will be available to purchase from the BAC box office from 12:30pm.

If you have an advance ticket and the space is full when you arrive, you may be asked to wait briefly before entering. We expect waiting times to be short, and for much of the day there should be no wait at all.

Tickets On The Day

On the day tickets will be available from 12:30pm, and will be sold throughout the day and will only be available to purchase in person at the BAC box office, according to seating availability in the auditorium.

On the day tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis. If the auditorium reaches capacity, ticket sales may be paused temporarily until space becomes available.

Once you’ve bought a ticket, you can stay until midnight or leave whenever you choose. If you leave, you can come back later using the same ticket. You may need to wait before entering so we can manage the auditorium safely.

Leaving and Re-Entering

Once inside, you can leave and re-enter as many times as you like.

Short breaks (such as using the bathroom) are fine — you won’t need to queue again.

If you leave for a longer period, you may need to re-join the queue to re-enter if the space is full. You will not need to pay again when re-entering.

To keep everyone safe and comfortable, there is a maximum capacity for the auditorium, and short waits may happen at peak times.

Make sure each member of your group has their own ticket, as you won’t be able to reserve seats for people in the auditorium.

The exterior of Battersea Arts Centre from across the street. A large Victorian building with arched windows and a weather vane on its roof.

PART OF A PUBLIC ADDRESS

A Public Address sees award-winning theatre collective Quarantine take over the former Town Hall – now Battersea Arts Centre – to ask: who gets heard in a place like this today?

Part of Wandsworth’s year as the Mayor’s London Borough of Culture.

FIND OUT MORE

Gallery

A karate showcase with a girl with blue hair wearing full Gi (white formal robes worn in various martial arts), who has jumped over three small hurdles and is fly-kicking a plank held by a man. In the background there is a curious audience and lots of sound equipment like microphones and trailing cables.

View 6 images

Dancers wearing black and yellow sparkled leotards are dancing in a large room with black polished flooring. The woman at the centre are in the height of a jump with legs outstretched into splits and arms up holding white pom poms. In the background there is a red and white striped blow-up house.

A Lady with dark brown curly hair and gold-rimmed glasses, wearing a horizontally striped green, red and blue shirt and a orange top, is interviewing two girls with a microphone outstretched to them. The girls are wearing black and blue sparkly leotards.

two men sit casually at opposite sides of the room, a large projector in the background reads '424. Who taught you right from wrong?'. The messy room is full of trailing cables and sound equipment boxes.

Biographies

Quarantine is an award-winning ensemble of artists and producers making cross-disciplinary work that explores what it means to live right now. Founded in Manchester in 1998, they create and tour projects around the world that are both intimate and immediate in their relationships with people, and global in their reference and scope.

Quarantine is known internationally for intellectually rigorous, socially progressive and inventive art that questions who gets seen, whose stories are told and who stands in for whom. Questions about representation lie at the heart of their work.

Credits

A Public Address is a BAC and Quarantine co-production, supported by Arts Council England.

Part of Welcome to Wandsworth, London Borough of Culture. London Borough of Culture is a Mayor of London initiative.

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. Co-produced by Transform. It is supported by Arts Council England and The Rank Foundation.

Concept and Direction Richard Gregory
Designer Simon Banham
Lighting Design Mike Brookes
Collaborating Artist/Assistant Director Sarah Hunter
Video Artist Lowri Evans
Questions Text Sarah Hunter, Leentje Van de Cruys, and Quarantine
Dramaturgy Renny O’Shea, Sarah Hunter, and Leentje Van de Cruys
Company Stage Manager Chi Emecheta
Production Manager Matt Webster
Producer for Quarantine Kevin Jamieson

Access

PRE EVENT INFORMATION

This event takes place in person in our Grand Hall. This space is on the ground floor, with step-free access via a lift.

If you have booked a ticket you will receive an email from us before your performance detailing important information about your visit.

PERSONAL ASSISTANT/COMPANION TICKETS

If you require the assistance of a friend or helper to attend, we can make a free ticket available for your companion. You can book access companion tickets online or contact the Box Office to book by emailing access@bac.org.uk.

To book a free access companion online:

log in to your account here
go to ‘Other preferences’ and tick ‘I require a personal assistant/companion’.
Choose the performance, date and seats you would like and if you add at least 2 tickets to your basket, then one of these will automatically become free.

PERFORMANCE INFORMATION

This performance will be BSL Interpreted. Interpreted by Ryan McLean, Rachael Merry and Becky Barry.

This is a durational performance that does not have a conventional seating plan or reserved seating, however there will be seats available for those who need. It takes place over 12 hours, and audiences can come and go as they please during that time, using the same ticket.

Content

Nudity
Strong language
Loud noise/music
Discussions of childbirth
Discussions about death
Possible content of a sexual nature
Discussion about medical procedures
Preperation of food and serving of food (allergens list provided)
Live butchery
Offerring of baked goods (allergens list provided)
Dogs on stage

This performance is unscripted, and therefore there may be subjects that might arise during the performance which we may not know about, including language used. It is important to note that we cannot guarantee what might be discussed.

We recognise that some children are more mature than others. We ask parents and/or primary care givers to use your personal discretion to judge whether the performance is suitable for/will be enjoyed by your child.

If you would like to more about what is included in the show, please get in touch on boxoffice@bac.org.uk closer to the performance. A running order will also be available on the day.

This performance will be Relaxed. We invite you to make yourself comfortable and move around if you need to, and if you need to leave the performance at any point you will be allowed to return to the space when you feel ready.

VISIT OUR ACCESS PAGE

We want our shows to be as accessible to as many people as possible.

We offer tickets to most shows on a Pay What You Can basis throughout the year.

Tickets for Grand Hall performances in 2026 start at £12.50, and we have recommended pricing to help you choose a price that works for you.

We know that ticket price is a huge barrier for some. If you can afford to pay the recommended price or more, choosing to do so supports those that can’t. It makes it possible for us to continue to offer Pay What You Can and welcome those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend.