Shay Mace
Created by real-life married duo Naomi Snieckus and Matt Baram, Big Stuff is an interactive comedy making its Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut next month. Developed through improvisation following the loss of both of their parents, the Canadian duo look to explore how people navigate grief and memory through the physical objects left behind, and how those objects develop their own emotional lives. We caught up with the pair for a pixelated pint to unpack the show and its themes.
You can catch Big Stuff at Roxyboxy at Assembly Roxy on August 5th – 30th (not the 11th) from 14:55 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Shay: Tell us about creating a show about the way we deal with grief. Why did you decide to bring this story to the stage?
Naomi: When my father passed away in 2020, we suddenly became what I call “old orphans.” We’d both lost all of our parents, and we realized we needed to process that somehow. Comedy has always been how we make sense of difficult things, so we started writing. At first, we didn’t know what the show would become, we just knew we wanted to honour our parents and somehow share them with other people.
Matt: One of the first conversations we had wasn’t actually about grief, it was about all the stuff they left behind. Boxes and boxes of objects. I remember saying, “What are we going to do with all this?” Naomi joked that we should make a show where we give everything away.
Naomi: Instead, we accidentally made a show where we collect things… in a way.
Matt: I’ll explain. Every audience member writes down an object in their home that reminds them of someone they love. We refer to some of the written answers in the show. We’ve now collected thousands of those cards from audiences across Canada. And Naomi won’t let me throw them away! Apparently our own show has taught us nothing.
Naomi: The show really became less about loss itself and more about the emotional lives of objects. Matt wants to throw everything away. I want to keep everything. That conflict turned out to be surprisingly funny, and surprisingly moving.
Matt: We also grieve differently. Naomi lets herself feel everything. I’m… let’s say a little more emotionally economical.
Naomi: I was literally encouraged by my dad to cry whenever I needed to. He would say “let it flow.” He was an organic chemistry professor, but he acted like a jazz musician. If I’m having a griefy day, I say I’m having a griefy day. The amazing thing is audiences immediately understand what that means. Grief is one of the few experiences we all eventually share.
Shay: How has the creative process of making the show together been?
Matt: Naomi and I create through improvisation. We pitched the idea before we even knew what the show was, then spent months simply talking to each other, improvising scenes and recording conversations.
Naomi: We also know ourselves well enough to know we need another voice in the room.
Matt: That’s where our director, Kat Sandler, comes in. She’s an extraordinary storyteller and wonderfully blunt. She becomes the referee for our ideas so Naomi and I don’t have to fight over every creative decision.
Naomi: It’s actually been wonderful for our marriage. Writing something this personal forced us to have conversations we’d never had before. After more than a decade together, we somehow got to know each other even better.
Matt: It wasn’t always easy, but it definitely brought us closer.
Naomi: And then the audiences arrived. Watching strangers connect over these stories has made every difficult conversation worthwhile.
Shay: What’s the first thing audiences experience when they enter the theatre?
Matt: Before they even sit down, they’re invited to become part of the show.
Naomi: Everyone receives a card asking them to write down an object they have at home that reminds them of someone in their life.
Matt: The stage itself feels like someone’s living room, or maybe someone’s halfway through packing one up. There’s a rug, scattered moving boxes, lamps… and yes, a few toasters.
Naomi: The toasters will make sense eventually.
Matt: Django Reinhardt is playing. It feels welcoming rather than theatrical. Hopefully people feel like they’re entering a shared space rather than just watching a performance.
Shay: What do you hope audiences take away from the experience?
Naomi: My favourite thing is watching strangers leave feeling like they shared something together. They arrive as individuals, but they leave feeling like a little community.
Matt: Every audience contributes stories, so every performance becomes unique. We’ve met incredible people touring the show, and now whenever we see certain objects—a cactus, an elephant, a piano—we immediately think of someone we met in a particular city.
Naomi: I love the idea that people might run into each other later during the Fringe and say, “Hey, remember that story from Big Stuff?” “Isn’t that the guy who collects urinals?” “Was she the one that has a jar of wet specimens?” Those shared memories become part of the experience too.
Shay: What journey has the show been on to arrive at the Edinburgh Fringe?
Matt: We’ve always dreamed of bringing work to Edinburgh, but we wanted to wait until we had a show that genuinely belonged there.
Naomi: Touring Big Stuff across Canada gave us confidence that it could connect with audiences anywhere.
Matt: Preparing for Edinburgh forced us to make the show smaller and trust the storytelling instead.
Naomi: Distilling the show has actually made it stronger. Every line, every object and every moment has earned its place.
Matt: We also found great producers who encouraged us to take the leap when others told us not to.
Shay: The Edinburgh Fringe is just around the corner. What are you most excited for?
Naomi: Seeing theatre. So much theatre.
Matt: Discovering new work and finally experiencing the Fringe for ourselves.
Naomi: Exploring Scotland on our day off.
Matt: Living with our stage manager for a month. If nothing else, it sounds like the beginning of a sitcom.
A reminder, you can catch Big Stuff at Roxyboxy at Assembly Roxy on August 5th – 30th (not the 11th) from 14:55 (60mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Image Credit: Dahlia Katz
Stage Leftovers
