When Clutter Becomes a Keepsake
Last night, I attended the opening of Big Stuff, a refreshingly different kind of live theatre from seasoned performers Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus, veterans of Second City and comedy clubs worldwide.
Part improvisation, part audience participation, the show invites us to think about all the stuff we keep – and, more importantly, why we keep it.
Baram and Snieckus, a real-life husband-and-wife team, appear as themselves, surrounded by a collection of clutter they’re trying to make sense of. What stays? What goes? And really, how many people need more than one toaster – especially if they’re not eating bread?
But Big Stuff is about more than decluttering. It asks us to consider the sentimental value we attach to the things we own, both big and small, and why letting go can be so difficult.
Audience members are invited to write down an item – or several – from home that reminds them of someone dear they’ve lost. Baram and Snieckus then draw the cards, ask who wrote each one, and invite them to share a little of the story behind it. I loved how naturally these exchanges unfolded. Some of the items prompted particularly poignant responses, adding a moving layer of humanity to the laughter.
After all, the things we hold on to aren’t always useful, beautiful or even particularly practical. Sometimes, they’re precious because of the people and memories they represent. What one person might see as clutter, another might see as an irreplaceable connection to someone they’ve loved and lost.
Perhaps that’s the bigger question at the heart of Big Stuff: when we hold on to things, are we really holding on to the objects themselves, or to the memories they carry? Maybe the challenge isn’t simply deciding what to keep and what to throw away, but understanding what we’re really holding on to.
Fresh off a sold-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it received the International Fringe Encore Series Edinburgh Prize, Big Stuff arrives at the Arts Club Theatre Company with international acclaim. Following its Vancouver run, the show heads to New York City’s SoHo Playhouse.
Written and created by: Matt Baram and Naomi Snieckus
Directed and co-created by: Kat Sandler
When: October 14–November 1, 2026
Where: Olympic Village Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre
Tickets: https://artsclub.com/shows/2026-2027/big-stuff
