The term “hits home” is used often but rarely does it take such a literal sense as in the case of Home Is a Beautiful Word.
Set in our own Victoria, Home is a Beautiful Word takes a unique look at the issue of homelessness using verbatim theatre, a method that keeps its material especially genuine.
“Verbatim is an art form that uses real transcripts of interviews in it,” explains Home is a Beautiful Word writer Joel Bernbaum, who cites Frost Nixon and The Laramie Project as some well-known examples. “What it allows is for people to speak for themselves, rather than a playwright putting words in their mouths.”
Since he began the process of creating the play, Bernbaum has performed more than 500 interviews throughout Victoria, asking the homeless, businesspeople, government workers, stay-at-home parents (really, everyone from children to senior citizens) their opinion on the issue of homelessness.
“It was important to me from the beginning to have a holistic view because homeless people are part of the story, but they’re not the whole story,” he says. “If we stick to that what can happen is it becomes an ‘us and them’ dynamic.”
He also explains how surprising each interview was, saying that each time he made an assumption about how someone would respond on this issue, his assumption would be shattered. This is, in essence, the same effect he hopes to deliver to his audience.
“I think if we do our jobs right in the theatre, we are entertaining our audiences and also engaging them in an experience that makes them think about life in a different way,” says Bernbaum. “That’s important at all times in theatre, but especially with an issue like this, in a city like this. This is a hyper-local piece; how often do you go to the theatre and listen to people talk about streets that you walk down every day?”
Bernbaum says that the people behind Home have an opportunity to give the audience an enjoyable evening, but they also have the opportunity, and the responsibility, he says, to engage them, make them think differently, and expand their thoughts on their city and the people in it.
“If that’s not important,” he says, “I don’t know what is.”
Home is a Beautiful Word
Until Sunday, January 19
$25, Belfry Theatre
belfry.bc.ca