Home <i>Tours</i>

Mammalian Diving Reflex’s Social Acupuncture wing induces encounters between strangers in public galleries and theatres. The inaugural project, The Talking Creature, involved inviting audience/participants to a predetermined spot, dispersing, and approaching random strangers to invite them back for an unstructured, unagendaed conversation about whatever (see O’Donnell). It was like a spontaneous cocktail party in the middle of a street, park or gallery populated by people who, for the most part, didn’t know each other. Home Tours extended this dynamic into the homes of strangers by inviting audience/participants to walk through random neighbourhoods, knock on random doors and ask for a quick peek. In August 2005 – as part of the Summerworks Festival – thirteen of us checked out the houses surrounding the Factory Theatre, walking east along Adelaide. Since all characters require a nice juicy super-objective, I proposed that we make it ours to get fed. Our first encounter was surprising — the young nightclub promoter seemed to barely register our request before throwing open his door and giving us a thorough tour of his tiny digs, stating that he “would never stand in the way of theatre.”The whirlwind tour included the beer fridge in his bedroom, a few chin-ups on the bar in the doorway and some artwork created by local graffiti luminaries. Just down the street, a marriage counsellor working from home regretfully didn’t want to disrupt his current session, but his wife agreeably hung out with us on their side-yard patio under a canopy of grape vines. Around the corner on Portland and Richmond, we toured a live—work architecture firm that was currently designing the new super-jail for juveniles. The assistant gestured to drawings on the wall, self-consciously assuring us that the kids would have lots of green space to roam. And across Richmond was the live—work space of a couple of high-end graphic designers, responsible for products like Cat Chow and Stouffer’s frozen dinners. There is obviously money in that field; their beautiful house had been repeatedly photographed and had recently been featured in the Globe and Mail. It was a stunning place, complete with a rooftop garden and a system to recycle rainwater. There were, of course, plenty of people not home, one place with an open door but no one answering (proving that Michael Moore tells the truth) and one home-alone kid who didn’t think it was such a good idea. In September 2005, eight of us walked north from the Bathurst subway station to explore the Annex, finding a little more reluctance and paranoia, but with persistence we managed to take a tour through the digs of a couple of newly weds, a grad student and a U of T English professor. We hung out in the prof’s back yard and spent some time getting to know each other — the group of participants as strange to each other as our various subjects. When we departed, the prof gave us full access to his herb garden encouraging us to take home handfuls of pungent sage, oregano, rosemary and basil, thus rending the super-objective of a little nosh a modest success. The only conflict in that neighbourhood was with the woman who nervously turned down our request and demanded to know if we had ripped off the herbs. In February of 2006, I took the experiment to Calgary’s wealthy Mount Royal neighbourhood, with Mammalian Diving Reflex’s Diplomatic Immunities, which was being presented as part of the Alberta Theatre Projects’ PlayRites festival. Reception there was a little chillier. But maybe it was the weather. Turns out the big cash in the heart of conservative country aren’t as excited to see you at their doors, with a couple of complaints dangling the threat of “further action” being directed at our host theatre. We met a few local luminaries, but only the young, recently wealthy house builder would let us get past the vestibule, while Cliff Fryers, Preston Manning’s former chief of staff and the man who called Stockwell Day an “abomination” on national TV, only felt comfortable letting us photograph his tie. But it was a nice tie.

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