Big Stuff probes profound existential questions at the Olympic Village Stage, October 14 to November 1
The two-hander starring real-life married couple Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus takes a comedic look at the things we choose to keep and why
Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus in Big Stuff.
The Arts Club presents the Baram and Snieckus production Big Stuff at the BMO Theatre Centre’s Olympic Village Stage from October 14 to November 1
A POPULAR APHORISM posits that you can’t take anything with you when you die, but you can leave something behind. And while that may be intended to refer to a person’s legacy in the sense of the impact they make in the lives of others, the fact is that most of us have a bunch of material possessions that our survivors will have to sort through. What will they hang on to and what will they discard, and how important a decision will this be to them?
This and other existential questions are at the heart of Big Stuff, a two-hander created by the married couple Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus in collaboration with Kat Sandler. As deep as the subject matter might get, however, Big Stuff is a comedy, partly scripted and partly improvisational. Baram and Snieckus are past masters at this; they met as members of Toronto’s Second City and have created a number of shows together.
In Big Stuff—which won the International Fringe Encore Series Edinburgh Prize at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe—the pair sort through a mountain of, well, stuff, much of it left behind by their dear departed. She wants to keep all of it, and he’s somewhat more ruthless about the things he’s willing to let go, but really, these two might be Marie Kondo’s worst nightmare.
The Globe and Mail called Big Stuff “hilarious and heartbreakingly human”, and Next Magazine described it as “a fast-paced, funny and profound look at relationships and grief”. Consider that your warning that this show might very well bring you to tears while it’s making you laugh. 
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