Tender Container’s
How to Self-Suspend
co-presented by One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre and Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre, as part of the 33rd annual High Performance Rodeo, Calgary’s International Festival of the Arts
January 10-12, 2019 – 7:00 & 10:00 pm
The Studio at The GRAND, 608 1 St SW, Calgary
Buy tickets online, at 403-294-9494 or at the door
$35 general, $25 students/artists
*Note: Both performances on January 11 will be filmed for archive purposes, and for possible use in a documentary film on Mx. Sly. Audience members will likely be caught on camera.
An X-rated narrative that is part storytelling, part photo-essay, part rope bondage demonstration, How to Self-Suspend is an interactive performance about how trauma shapes the choices we make, and how the choices we make reflect (and can perpetuate) trauma.
The narrative of this piece tracks Mx. Sly’s existence in three cities: their violent childhood in Montréal, their late twenties in the Toronto rope bondage community, and their early thirties living on the edge of Vancouver’s Downtown East Side. How to Self-Suspend is unsparing in its details, and uses Sly’s history to ask uncomfortable questions of its audiences through, at times, ethically-questionable means.
While consent violations dominate our news headlines, and, conversely, art audiences expect to receive content and trigger warnings, How to Self-Suspend examines how closely performance is allowed to reflect reality and asks the audience how much reality they’re willing to be witness to before it feels like a consent breach.
Initially developed with support from the frank theatre company, Act 1 of How to Self-Suspend debuted in 2017 at Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre’s Discomfort Lab in Calgary; Act 2 debuted in 2018 at Theatre Replacement’s PushOFF in Vancouver; Act 3 was developed in a residency at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby; and the full work-in-development received a workshop presentation at the 2018 Bi Arts Festival in Toronto.
Buy tickets online, at 403-294-9494 or at the door
Accessibility:
The Studio at THE GRAND is accessible by wheelchair and scooter users, and those with limited mobility, via the entrance on 6th Avenue SW (which is next to a loading zone). Inside, there is an elevator that goes up to the Studio. There are fully accessible washrooms on the building’s main floor.
For any further questions or concerns regarding ticketing or accessibility, please don’t hesitate to contact Mark Hopkins at Swallow-a-Bicycle Theatre – mark@swallowabicycle.com or 403.710.0093.
The Arts Commons box office is also available to address any questions or concerns regarding ticketing or accessibility: 403-294-9494.
