{"id":27976,"date":"2026-03-09T12:06:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/?p=27976"},"modified":"2026-03-09T12:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T19:06:12","slug":"spark-festival-play-uses-levity-to-destigmatize-grief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2026\/03\/09\/spark-festival-play-uses-levity-to-destigmatize-grief\/","title":{"rendered":"Spark Festival play uses levity to destigmatize grief"},"content":{"rendered":"

For 11 days, The Belfry Theatre will transform itself from a renowned historical playhouse to an unassuming intersection where grief and humour cross paths. There, Naomi Snieckus and Matt Baram will be performing their play Big Stuff<\/i> as part of the 2026 Spark Festival, granting audiences the opportunity to lower their walls and embrace community, even if just for a little while.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBig Stuff<\/i> is a show about all the things that are left behind when we lose someone close to us,\u201d says Baram. \u201cSo, about five or six years ago, the last of our parents passed away, and when that happened, we both recognized just how much of a hole that left in our lives. But it also left us with a lot of stuff; the belongings of the people we lost, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Big Stuff<\/em> is running as part of the Spark Festival at the Belfry Theatre (photo by Dahlia Katz).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Eventually, the married comedy duo began relaying their experiences to those around them and quickly realized just how common these circumstances truly were; how universal grief can be. So, as the dust began to settle on all their newly accumulated stuff, they started to write jokes about it.<\/p>\n

\u201c[There\u2019s] this phrase [that] goes, \u2018Tragedy plus time equals comedy,\u2019\u201d says Snieckus. \u201cSo with grief, if everybody sort of examines their griefiest of times, there\u2019s usually some sort of comedy that lives right next door to it. And with some time, you\u2019re usually able to see what that comedy is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having this in mind, Sniekus and Baram chose to embrace the heartfelt (and sometimes nonsensical) stories of their audience members, elevating them from a room full of viewers to active participants.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always knew we wanted to have some sort of audience interaction or improv aspect to our show, because it\u2019s sort of our jam,\u201d says Snieckus. \u201cI mean, before this show, we were always improvising; we\u2019d improvise a full play in the style of, like, David Mamet or Tennessee Williams. So this is, I would say, about 90 percent written, and then we integrate the audience\u2019s stuff\u2014their stories\u2014into our story. So it\u2019s the kind of show you can see three times and see three different shows.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play makes a valiant effort to embrace the levity of loss and destigmatize the grieving process, blending comedy with whole-hearted sincerity.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody\u2019s going to grieve,\u201d says Snieckus. \u201cEverybody\u2019s got it in their hearts. So, why be so precious with it? I feel like if we cried in public more often, everybody would just be a little bit more compassionate to grief.\u201d<\/p>\n

These themes are expressed with sincerity and respect in the show, showcasing humour as the coping mechanism that it is. And while the challenges of grief can be deeply understood by anyone who has lost someone or something, Snieckus and Baram drive home the point that people don\u2019t need to deal with those challenges alone.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think we want people to walk away feeling like it\u2019s okay to talk about grief in public,\u201d says Baram. \u201cYou know, we\u2019re not trying to tell folks that we know anything more about grief than they already do. We\u2019re not telling them how to mourn\u2026 But I think the show sneaks up on people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play\u2019s team also includes director Kat Sandler, who is currently shooting a series for Crave starring Hudson Williams here in Victoria.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what makes [Big Stuff<\/i>] so special is we found a very lucky combination of creative minds,\u201d says Baram. \u201cLike, that\u2019s a secret sauce for us\u2026 And then to have Kat Sandler, who\u2019s our director and co-creator, in our corner and [helping] us explore in a safe way, so that our relationship is never compromised\u2026 I think that\u2019s what makes it special.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big Stuff
\n<\/i><\/i>Various days and times, Tuesday, March 10 until Saturday, March 21
\nVarious prices, Belfry Theatre
\nbelfry.bc.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For 11 days, The Belfry Theatre will transform itself from a renowned historical playhouse to an unassuming intersection where grief and humour cross paths. There, Naomi Snieckus and Matt Baram will be performing their play Big Stuff as part of the 2026 Spark Festival, granting audiences the opportunity to lower their walls and embrace community, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":27977,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27976"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27978,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27976\/revisions\/27978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}