←Recommendations of and for your last breath?

Last Breath is a quiet play that nevertheless packs a punch and provides a bit of comfort in dark times. The moment of the play is both small and somehow profound. In short, it's the sort of script that demonstrates well how powerful the short play form can be.

"and for your last breath?' is a play about more than just the pandemic and wildfires. It is about a relationship between two roommates. About how the possibility of future death makes relationships a bit more intimate. About how the breath we share is precious. It is a play I'd recommend to anyone looking for a serious, yet feel-good play about the depths of friendship or a relationship.

AND FOR YOUR LAST BREATH is an emotionally potent play. Beautiful and heartfelt and intense. I had the chance to catch this one performed with Left Edge Theatre. Great work to Emily Russell!

The feeling of being trapped is palpable in this short. The California wildfires are coming, but COVID is raging, so where is safe? When nowhere is safe, you might as well stay where you are and focus on the small things you're capable of doing to make it all more bearable. One line that stuck with me was, "Anything for more life." What a great short, tackling so many things in such a small span of time - how like a human life.

Being a world away during this frightening event, I can only imagine what it must have been like. Here, Emily describes the situation brilliantly in a tight, tense and claustrophobic setting, where two friends help each other come terms with what might just be the end. Very good work.

Living so far away, the California wildfires felt like an abstraction, something on the news that was happening somewhere else. This tightly-packed drama brings this reality right to the forefront, so much so that you can almost smell the smoke and breathe the choking oppression of a world in which the world burns and there's no escape because of the raging COVID restrictions. Amidst all of this, Emily Russell creates a human, impactful story of survival and hope, and even though we know now that San Francisco wasn't engulfed, it remains just as impactful now.

Russell's ability to pack endless images, thoughts, and feelings within the dance of human connection is astounding. This play dives into the intricacies of the act of breathing in ways I have never considered but will always think of from here on out. I will be an avid reader of anything Russell decides to grace us with. And if you're reading this review, you should be one too.