Taking the ‘trigger warning’ to the extreme: Eliza Sanders’ Manage Your Expectations
Multi-award winning maverick of the stage, Canberra’s own Eliza Sanders, uses her unique blend of dance, clown and absurd philosophising to take the ‘trigger warning’ to its extreme in Manage Your Expectations.
In 2022 House of Sand boggled the minds of Canberrans with their sprawling, critically acclaimed dance-theatre-cinema epic That Was Friday. Their newest offering, Manage Your Expectations, was the breakout hit of NZ Fringe 2024 winning Outstanding Solo Performance, and makes its Australian Premiere at Canberra Theatre Centre.
Playing from 2 to 4 August, this new work will illuminate the limits of the power to communicate, and our endless failures to say what we mean.
Charley Allanah, director, Manage Your Expectations, said, “Manage Your Expectations is part dance theatre, part live improvisation and part performative lecture. We’ve set out to humorously query just how ‘informed’ consent can really be, and ask ‘how much do you really want to know?’ Be prepared to go on a hilarious and moving journey, full of vigour and energy with a dash of confrontation and chaos.”
The audience will be asked by the performer if they consent to her sharing the work. She will try to give all the information required for the audience to provide fully informed consent. That bit will take a while and have lots of words. Thankfully many of them are funny and some are profound.
Then she will share the work. That bit will be visceral, abstract, and beautiful. It might be uncomfortable; considering colonialism, fertility, blame and the limits of consent often is. The influence of context, identity and personal history will mean different personal resonances in each audience member. Perhaps shock, fear or discomfort. Or pleasant surprise and ebullience. – we have no idea, they’re your resonances. But you will have been fully briefed and trigger-warned.
Tickets are available to purchase here
Concession prices are available, and tickets can be booked in a multi-show package to save up to $125* – 3-show & 5-show options available. Visit the website for details.
Eliza Sanders’ “Mange Your Expectations”, Image credit Romina Favero