Boundaries and edges are often difficult areas. We struggle with them because they are not easily definable. Without boundaries things blend, taking on each other's characteristics.

The Last, a performance by Gambling Shoes Productions, examines these concepts in several different ways.

The story is about a group of six people related by an absent friend. The Last takes a look at where these characters overlap and blend together, becoming more than a group of separate individuals.

The performance itself also examines the boundaries of the performing arts. The Last combines dance and acting so that there is no clear point where one begins and the other ends. The audience doesn't stop and think "Oh, there was the dance part, now here's the acting part."

The set, created by SFU visual arts grad Jesse Toso, also draws attention to boundaries. While there was a stage separate from the audience, each actor also had a nook in between sections of viewers. In this way, there was a fuzzy line between the characters and the audience, between fiction and reality.

The Last was accompanied by the performance of several guests. The most memorable of these were Swim in Shallow Water and Real Flowers, both of which also combined various performing arts.

Swim in Shallow Water, created and performed by Stacey Horton, was a mesmerizing and humorous piece about water. Horton was able to recreate the weightless movements of swimming, especially when she saved a drowning blow-up doll named Ricardo. The piece also went below the surface to look at water consumption, ending with the repeated phrase "when you put something down the drain it doesn't disappear, it lands on your future."

Real Flowers, created and performed by Maiko Bae Yamamoto and Tamara McCarthy, and directed by Serry J. Yoon, looked at women in music.

Unfortunately, it was only an excerpt of a longer piece so it was difficult to get a sense of the story. However, Yamamoto's incredible singing voice more than made up for any loss.

The Last, which ran from April 23 until May 2 at the Russian Community Centre on West 4th, opened up complex questions about the use and relevance of boundaries. It also suggests that the more integrated the arts become, the less the boundaries between them matter.

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