Clothing is an interactive and participatory experience. It’s more like a shopping trip than a sit-down theatre show! Below is some information to help you prepare for your visit.
About the Experience ~ Frequently Asked Questions ~ Trigger Warnings ~ Accessibility Information ~ Full Experience Outline (with spoilers)
About the Experience
Before the event:
- Reserve your spot.
- Once you’ve reserved a spot, you will receive a link to a survey. Please answer the questions at least 24 hours before your visit, and ideally sooner, to allow our team to prepare your personalised experience.
- If something comes up and you’re not able to join us, please let us know as soon as possible. We put a lot of care and effort into preparing for our guests, and last-minute changes can pose a challenge. You can reach us at info@swallowabicycle.com or 403-710-0093.
- You may need more information about the venue or the experience to decide whether to attend, and how to prepare. Please scroll down to the accessibility section of this page, or contact us to have a conversation about it at info@swallowabicycle.com or 403-710-0093.
The day of the event:
- Please plan to arrive at least 10 minutes before your session, to help us start the experience on schedule. Here’s some information on how to get to Good Thrift.
- If you aren’t feeling well, or are experiencing any symptoms of COVID-19, please stay home and let us know that you’re not able to attend at info@swallowabicycle.com or 403-710-0093.
During the event:
- The Clothing experience will take between 1-2 hours, depending on our guests – some groups may want to move through quickly, while others may linger!
- At any point, you’re welcome to take a break from the experience in our dedicated “chill space”, and return whenever you’re ready. You are also welcome to leave, if what we’re offering doesn’t work for you.
After the event:
- Check your e-mail for a post-experience follow-up.
- Recommend our Clothing experience, or file a complaint! We always want to know how we can improve.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if I do not fill the Clothing guest survey?
Unfortunately, we will not be able to curate a personalised experience for you; it will be a more “standard” version. We’ll do our best to make it special for you, but we all know there’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all when it comes to clothing! … so you should really fill out the survey.
What if something happens and I cannot attend?
If you give more than 24 hours’ notice, we will open your spot to a different guest. If you do not let us know, or give us last minute notice, you will be missed. (Truly!)
How inclusive is the experience of different genders, body sizes, etc?
We try to tailor the experience to each guest’s needs; the more detail you give us on the guest survey about your needs, preferences, and style, the more you help us to curate the experience for you. If you still would like more information on this, please refer to the accessibility section to learn more or contact the clothing team at.
What do you mean by interactive and participatory? What will I have to do?
Answer coming soon!
What do you mean by “your choices will have consequences”?
Well, that would be a spoiler! Come to the show, or read the full experience outline, to find out.
What’s this about discomfort? What if I get too uncomfortable?
Swallow-a-Bicycle is committed to productive discomfort – but if your experience at Clothing ever feels uncomfortable in an unproductive way, you are more than welcome to step out of the experience; we’ll offer instructions before the show on how this works. You are welcome to rejoin at any time, or to leave the experience entirely.
Trigger Warnings
This piece may be triggering to audiences who have experienced / are experiencing poverty or scarcity.
We recognise that the clothing and fashion industries can be extremely ableist, fat-phobic and transphobic; anyone who has had a negative experience shopping for clothes due to ability, body size, gender or other aspects of their identity may be triggered by this experience.
Clothing also touches upon gender and racial power dynamics.
Accessibility Information
The Good Thrift venue is not wheelchair accessible. Reaching the upstairs space requires climbing 4 flights of stairs, with a total of 27 stairs. (First flight: 6 stairs; second, third and four flights: 7 stairs each.) The washroom is not wheelchair accessible.
There is one washroom in the space, with one toilet.
The experience is participatory, and guests will be invited to undertake some fine-motor-skill tasks, like opening gifts, wrapping gifts, cutting with scissors, writing on a wall). Guests can participate however works best for them, and can ask for support in completing tasks from the performers and creative team.
This is not a seated experience; guests will be invited to stand, kneel and move around the space (as directed by performers). A few chairs will be available; if you’d like to sit down and don’t see a chair nearby, you can request one from a performer or member of the creative team.
There will be a “chill space” available during the experience; guests can leave the experience and return as desired, at any time.
We acknowledge that this piece has different levels of barriers to people and have set aside $$xx to ensure we financially cover audience related accessibility costs (like ASL interpretation, an audio describer, etc).
Below, read the full experience outline for a detailed description of what will happen in Clothing (with spoilers).
We have consulted with Riki Entz and Ashley King as part of Inside Out Theatre’s Good Host Program during different stages of development for this project:
- Fall 2022, to share the project concepts
- Spring 2023, to discuss the experience (based on descriptions and documentation from workshops)
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