01 Musk says the universe may be virtual, and the human world no more than strings of code. He wants to go to Mars, while some people still want to go to the moon—not the one Armstrong stepped on, but the one in the water, the one in dreams.
02 Today I turned on my computer, plugged in the hard-drive enclosure, and found it unreadable. It holds the million-plus photographs and piles of video footage I shot during my undergraduate and graduate years. Life has these coincidences: everything you have accumulated over a lifetime is formatted away in a second.
03 Tomorrow we will write the final page of history, and I am already unbearably restless and sick of it. I never go to the theatre or watch films. They are too boring; that nauseating stench of preaching leaking from the stage and screen is suffocating. Why has the excitement of playing hide-and-seek as a child vanished forever?
04 I open my phone and a screenful of advertisements sets me on edge. The looping background music in short videos makes me gag. Everywhere are promises to teach you to make money and guarantee your happiness. Every day, you have to look at Boston lobster before you can bite into a sweet steamed bun. The serotonin in my body turns into the bravado of “one more drink.” Only drunk inside a dream can I catch my breath.
05 The human surrender faction, an emotional pulverizer, a person of cold stone, nine heavens of warmth and chill. Can you still feel that greater thing? She swings my hands, and it begins to turn, to spin; the entire space starts spinning. A final performance: to tell you what I want to say, peel back the hidden wounds for you to see, pass my warmth to you, bring my love back from the dead.
06 Tomorrow is P4 Theater’s final chapter. The curtain will slowly fall, bringing eight years of theatrical practice to a close. Become that person, that unique person. Because of you, the world will no longer be code; even if it is virtual, it will inscribe your eternity.
The Last Rehearsal, part of Shoot Self with You
Event: the final performance marking the wrap of filming for Shoot Self with You
Time: Saturday, August 26, 2023, 19:30
Venue: Ciyu Bookstore, Inside-Out Theatre branch
Ticket: RMB 99, including one drink
For details: add Jizhang on WeChat (p4theater03)
Participants and their articles (click the images to open)
And their experience:
Shoot Self with You A, Huang Meng—“…Then You Became a Little Girl Again…”
Previously participated in the collective creation of North Wind Theatre’s Porphyria, Kousi Theatre’s Meat Grinder, 101 Theatre’s Black Trio, and Theatre Salon’s Killing Mother. A performer in The Last Rehearsal.
Shoot Self with You B, Sun Jiarui—“This Is the Last Rehearsal! It’s Real! It’s All Real!”
Previously initiated P4 Theater’s Communal Script (共产剧本) and participated in the collective creation of P4 Theater’s Love Theatre, 101 Theatre’s Black Trio, and the Wuzhen competition work Interweaving. A performer in The Last Rehearsal.
Shoot Self with You C, Xu Shuai—“Let Me Become a Whale Fall; I Have Too Little, Too Little”
Previously participated in the collective creation of P4 Theater’s Chengfen Polang (成分破浪) and Four Eyes. A performer in The Last Rehearsal.
Shoot Self with You D, Yun Jianhui—“Once Again”
Previously initiated P4 Theater’s Global Private Screenings and participated in the collective creation of P4 Theater’s Chengfen Polang (成分破浪) and Love Theatre. A documentarian in The Last Rehearsal.
Shoot Self with You R, Zhao Xuan—“Beijing’s First Experiment”
Previously initiated Kousi Theatre’s Meat Grinder and participated in the collective creation of P4 Theater’s Love Theatre. A musician in The Last Rehearsal.
Shoot Self with You K, Rumeng—“Eardrum Ripper”
Previously initiated Howlers on the Rooftop in the P4U programme and the Rumeng Workshop in the P4X Challenge; participated in Purples: Duel Club, North Wind Theatre’s Porphyria, and Kousi Theatre’s Meat Grinder. A musician in The Last Rehearsal.
Shoot Self with You S, Zhao Ziyi—“Everything Is a New Dimension”
Previously initiated the You and Me noise music festival. A musician in The Last Rehearsal.
He Fa—“The Story of Shoot Self with You: Will the Aliens Come Again?”
Initiated the film Shoot Self with You; a producer working behind the scenes of The Last Rehearsal.
All the images above are clickable and lead to the articles each person wrote for the performance.
Warning
This is absolutely not a play. It is an act of communication. And you are not an audience: you are a childhood friend, the cat in the tree, the neighbor’s big dog.
Nor is it a film you watch and then leave. Something has to happen, after sunset and before the moon has been swallowed.
Still less will it be a lament ending with everyone’s departure. It will be a cheerful tune accompanied once more by hooves beating against the street, while nightingales laugh among the roses.
The Last Rehearsal is a cultural and artistic exchange combining theatrical performance, performance art, live sound, and art installation. That evening’s performance will last more than an hour. We very much look forward to the audience’s interaction and participation throughout. The whole event will also be recorded on camera and ultimately included in the film Shoot Self with You.
The August 26 performance will happen only once in a lifetime. We hope to spend a wonderful evening with you and share the extraordinary experience of life that art can bring. The performers are all named on the poster. Follow the P4 Theater WeChat official account for more information.
The Last Rehearsal, part of Shoot Self with You
Event: the final performance marking the wrap of filming for Shoot Self with You
Time: Saturday, August 26, 2023, 19:30
Venue: Ciyu Bookstore, Inside-Out Theatre branch
Ticket: RMB 99, including one drink
For details: add Jizhang on WeChat (p4theater03)
Places: only the last five remain
Tickets: scan the green QR code
P.S. As this is P4 Theater’s last performance, friends who have taken part in previous P4 projects are welcome to come along. Contact Jizhang directly; there will be several surprises for old friends.
