Daniel MacIvor's solo show 'House' lands at SFU Nov. 6 with Jonathon Paterson
A darkly comedic one-man performance at SFU's Djavad Mowafaghian World Arts Centre explores a man's dead-end job, marriage, and life through pantomime, expressionism, and standup comedy.
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Daniel MacIvor's solo play "House" — not the TV series about a misanthropic doctor or the 1985 cult horror-comedy — is coming to SFU's Djavad Mowafaghian World Arts Centre on Friday, Nov. 6 at 8:30 p.m. as a one-night-only mounting for the Downtown Eastside Heart of the City Festival.
Jonathon Paterson takes the lead role of Victor, a man with a dead-end job cleaning septic tanks, a dead-end marriage to a woman who can't stand him, and a dead-end life in general. Victor addresses the audience directly throughout a script that shifts unpredictably — from oddball comic pantomime to straightforward narrative, from wacky expressionism and free-floating surrealism to something very like standup comedy.
It's an acting workout. Paterson is no stranger to solo performance — he presented his own show "How I Met My Mother" at the same festival last year. Director Willow Lewmos, who helmed that production, handles this darkly comedic piece.
MacIvor adapted the play for film in 1995, earning two Genie Award nominations for the lead performance. The play's tonal range — bouncing between styles without warning — is the core challenge: an actor must commit fully to pantomime in one moment, then pivot to naturalistic dialogue the next, then into pure comedy bit, then back again.
The details
Who stars in 'House'?
Jonathon Paterson plays Victor, a man with a dead-end job cleaning septic tanks and an unhappy marriage.
What styles does the performance blend?
'House' shifts between comic pantomime, narrative, expressionism, surrealism, and standup comedy throughout the one-man show.
