THE Lyric Theatre in Bridport is inviting people to two intimate performances of Last Resort, set in a re-imagined Guantanamo Bay.

Following a sell-out Edinburgh Fringe run last summer, Last Resort is a menacing fiction, made entirely of unimaginable fact, from the creators of The Litvinenko Project and Ventoux. It will be performed at the Lyric on Wednesday, May 16.

Last Resort is the alternative future for Guantanamo Bay, proposed by 2Magpies Theatre.

“The waterboarding has stopped, the noise has been turned down and the military base has been reclaimed as a holiday destination. You, the audience, are our holidaymakers. You will sit in a deckchair, you will get a rum cocktail on arrival and you will feel the sand between your toes. We will be your tour guides.”

You’ll sit in a deckchair, you’ll get a rum cocktail on arrival and you’ll feel the sand between your toes.

Performed in the ‘secret enclave’ of The Lyric, 2Magpies Theatre will take you through the tropical haze on a unique multi-sensory package holiday.

This is an extraordinary rendition and it is all-inclusive.

Last Resort was previously performed at the Lowry Centre in Salford and the Southbank Centre in London.

Join 2Magpies Theatre as they take you through the tropical haze on a unique multi-sensory package holiday. This is an extraordinary rendition and it is all-inclusive. Last Resort is a menacing fiction, made entirely of unimaginable fact.

This immersive show was developed through a research process bringing together artists, academics and human rights organisations including Reprieve. Founder of Reprieve, Clive Stafford Smith, will be holding a post show Q&A with the company after each performance.

For Tom Barnes, creator of the show, the inspiration was about rethinking Guantánamo, which still holds 41 prisoners, uses torture techniques and detains people indefinitely without trial, and yet which many people have come to accept and comfortably coexist with.

“Everything in the show lives in the world of the holiday resort, but the content within that comes from Guantánamo Bay as a detention centre,” said Barnes. “We’ve taken all the torture techniques used – known as enhanced interrogation techniques, which is just a euphemism for methods of torture – and transposed them all into the world of the holiday resort, which actually proved alarmingly easy.”

Barnes based the show on testimony from former inmates, declassified documents and interviews with Reprieve, the organisation that represents Guantánamo inmates and whose caseworkers regularly visit the prison.

As the seating is on deckchairs in the hall, tickets are very limited so advance booking is highly recommended. There are two performances, 4pm and 8pm, with doors opening 30 minutes prior to showtimes. Suitable for ages 12+

n Last Resort, Lyric Theatre, Bridport, Wednesday, May 16, 4pm and 8pm.

Doors open 30 mins before each showtime.

The show is suitable for those aged 12 and above.

Tickets are £12 (£5 BACstage pass) available from BearKat Cafe and Bridport Tourist Information Centre on 01308 424901 or go to the website bridportandwestbay.co.uk.