Until January 25, 2020, Firehall Arts Centre is presenting the World Premiere of House And Home.
photo: Reznek Creative
With Vancouver’s skyrocketing real estate market and the difficulties facing homeowners and renters Playwright Jenn Griffin has written a hilarious satire covering all aspects of Vancouver housing market. If you’ve seen a news story on a housing related topic, you can bet it’s been included in House And Home. Fixer-uppers, 2nd & 3rd mortgages, rental suites vs short-term rentals, landlords vs tenants’ rights, land assembly, renovictions, pest control, homelessness, social housing, even a yurt and many more social topics work their way into the story. Ms Griffin has found a way to wrap all of the topics around a central detached family home. Cash strapped homeowners Hilary (Jillian Fargey) & Henry (Andrew Wheeler) are landlords to downstairs university-student tenant Wren (Kimberly Ho) and her roommate/girlfriend Marika (Darian Roussy). Like many in Vancouver, Hilary, Henry and Wren are underemployed with their living expenses stretched thin. The generation and class gap between upstairs/downstairs creates much of the conflict and many of the laughs throughout House And Home. Another source of comic relief comes from the supporting cast step up of Sam Bob as ever-present The Pest Maven and Sebastien Archibald as a Joel the real estate agent, Richard the underhoused vagabond, and most hilariously, Auxl the short-term-rental guest.
photo: Reznek Creative
House And Home Director Donna Spencer, also Artistic Producer of Firehall Arts Centre, has presented a fast-paced, cleverly staged work with a breezy pace that feels much shorter than its 2 hour (including 15 minute intermission) runtime. Much like all of the astonishing housing stories featured on an evening newscast, all you can do is laugh along with House And Home.
Jenn Griffin’s House And Home runs at Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova Street, until January 25, 2020. For showtimes and tickets visit firehallartscentre.ca