THE LAST DROP (NWF Reading)

The Last Drop places four characters in extremis in the wake of catastrophic climate change, and explores their diverse ways of dealing - or not dealing - with their predicament.

Mary and Joe live alone in the sand-dunes, desalinating sea water with a ramshackle still Joe devised. Theirs is a harsh existence, eating insects and what crustaceans they can find in the blasting temperatures, and tending the precious still. Their once-strong love is just another faded memory, like the creature comforts of a previous life. With no bucket, Mary spends her life traipsing to and from the surf, bringing water for the still in her cupped hands. Embittered, Joe has become almost as hard as the world itself, and he and Mary - who has not expunged her softer side - bicker constantly upon endlessly repeated themes.

Their harsh, lonely lives are suddenly invaded by Valentino, an entrepreneur, optimist, trader, pimp and shark, and Esmeralda, who appears to be his accomplice and whore. Just one night in the company of these outlandish visitors tears apart some of the remaining rags of Joe and Mary's relationship, and yet it also roughly stitches up other aspects enough for Joe to perform brutal dentistry when Mary is afflicted with unbearable toothache.

Subsequently, the still is destroyed when they apparently receive other visitors - or do they? Valentino and Esmeralda stumble upon them once more to find Joe half dead and Mary at her wit's end. Truths emerge about both relationships that leave Mary with only one way out.

Team: John Shand (playwright & director), Sharon Millerchip (performer), Jeremy Waters (performer), Damien Ryan (performer), Madeline Li (performer)

Run Time: ~120 minutes

Content Warnings: N/A