Samantha Shay: 'Life in this House is Over'

Making its US premiere at PS21, Life in this House is Over is an original dance-theatre piece about the social awkwardness of grief. Directed by interdisciplinary artist Samantha Shay, the piece was developed at Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch, where Shay was a guest artist & researcher. Inspired by the writing of Anton Chekhov, the work is structured as a funeral and wake, entering into a tragicomic world beyond known logic. Shay asks questions Chekhov posed years before: how do we move forward when an uncertain future presses on a dying past, where emblems of nostalgia are intertwined with the complexities of human suffering? Is connection possible in a world drawn taut by the force of imminent change? By gathering artists from two significant artistic lineages of performance—current and former artists of Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch (including luminary Julie Shanahan, who returns to PS21) as well as the Grotowski Institute-based physical theatre company, Teatr ZAR—the performance is a kaleidoscope of artistic influences, erupting from one medium to the other, refusing to impose a single viewpoint, leaving the door open for the audience to comprehend a myriad of themes.