Istvan Dugalin ➤

Lauren Gillis in “Honey I’m Home”, Photo by Eden Graham

Honey I’m Home is outrageous, folks. One of the most unhinged things I’ve seen in a long time—since, in fact, a 2023 Fringe show in the same venue! For those who read my review of AHAHA, you know I dig destabilizing experiences. And this production, presented by Factory Theatre and Lester Trips (Theatre), is a special bit of theatrical mayhem. Raw. Innovative. Elliptical. I could just keep rattling off words. It would be appropriately jarring.

I’m still processing it and who knows how long that will take. At some point, I have to tell you something about it. So let’s just acknowledge that my unpacking of the show is ongoing, even as I write this, making my review an ephemeral snapshot of where I’m at with it now. 

Shall we?…

At the top, there’s a nun and a catatonic lady! We’re given a little taste of some therapy provided by an organization that calls itself “Forget Me Not.” Is this nun helping the lady? She seems to think so. Is there evidence? There’s… something. It’s funny and discomfiting. We’re given more context for this weird episode later. Moving on…

Janine! Oh, poor Janine… Her job sucks because it’s performed by an AI but she still has to be there. She’s slumped over a cubicle console in a very awkward and precarious position. Why? We don’t know. But we sort of get what she’s going through. I mean, she just looks so uncomfortable! She’s got an AI assistant (James!) who helps her negotiate algorithms and a myriad other administrative tasks filtered through online technology. “Help” is perhaps too strong a word for whatever James is providing. 

Janine get’s an avatar! She’s uploaded her consciousness into it. Is it useful? It’s… something. Awkward is good descriptor—that’s a running theme, by the way. Janine can’t quite get the hang of animating it or dealing with the nausea caused by the whole untethered consciousness thing and there’s just so much to do and where to start and even just putting her damn coat on the rack is an impossible task and suddenly the whole of our modern life is captured in this janky spectacle and I just… ugh! Right? 

And then it gets dark. But still hilarious. If you’re into it. And well, how the hell should I know if you will be!

This, uh… thing… is created and performed by Lauren Gillis and Alaine Hutton. And it’s my jam! 

There isn’t much of a set, just that upsetting chair-platform configuration for Janine’s cubicle and some white panels. One of those panels features a rectangular cut out where Gillis can pop into the frame as a sentient, disembodied presence. André du Toit’s lighting makes this work and it’s astonishingly eerie and disorienting. Through a blend of deeply considered physical comedy and some harrowing vocal ejaculations, Gillis makes Janine such an abject and relatable cog in whatever it is we’re doing as a species. Hutton’s avatar is, well, a hot twitchy mess. And I love that for her.

A whole heap of creative voices have contributed to this intense techno-visceral horror-comedy. I’ll shout out consulting direction by Adam Lazarus, but you can consult the show page for the slew of performance and design collaborators who have shaped this into the abstracted, deeply specific and glorious experience it is! Oh, Gillis is also a hoot as that nun.

Honey I’m Home
running November 21 to December 1, 2024
Factory Theatre, Studio (125 Bathurst St.)
running time: 60 to 70 minutes (no intermission)

Alaine Hutton and Lauren Gillis in “Honey I’m Home”, Photo by Eden Graham