HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF

About the show

Outhouse Theatre Co (Heroes of the Fourth Turning, Ulster American, The Flick) reunite with director Claudia Barrie (Dry Land, Bengal Tiger at Baghdad Zoo, The Cripple of Inishmaan) to present the Australian premiere of Liliana Padilla’s blazingly original new play. Seven college students gather for a DIY self-defence workshop after a sorority sister is sexually assaulted. They learn to use their bodies as weapons. They learn to fend off attackers. They learn “not to be a victim.” Learning self-defence becomes a channel for their rage, anxiety, confusion, trauma and desire. Lots of desire. Winner of the prestigious Yale Drama Prize and a finalist for the 2019 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Liliana Padilla’s blazing new play explores what it means to live in a culture saturated with violence and what it means to heal. With sharp humour and brutal honesty, the play examines what we want, how to ask for it, and the violator and violated inside us all. After their acclaimed production of Dry Land, Outhouse and Barrie, are thrilled to team up again with a cast of some of Sydney’s most exciting emerging talent.