It’s no secret that purchasing property in Toronto is a feat that continues to become increasingly difficult, with the city recently named as one of the top 10 most “impossibly unaffordable” cities in the world. Timely presented, The Bidding War is a new Crow’s Theatre production that uses satire to poke fun at, and ultimately, shine an unforgiving magnifying glass on the current state of Toronto’s housing market.

The play sets deliberately high stakes by showcasing a 12-hour bidding war for “the last affordable house in the city.” Immediately, all bets are off—in a mad dash, the ensemble cast of eleven characters (including a gym bro, a starving artist, and parents-to-be, to name a few) each roll up their sleeves, ready to dive into the figurative lion’s den. 

Each character has skin in the game—some are vying to own the property to start a family or for sentimentality, and others, to flip. What makes the play so compelling is its astute analysis of what the competitive market does to people. Delicately balanced with laugh-out-loud comedy, The Bidding War comments poignantly on the human condition and the propensity for hostility when faced with perceived “lack.”

Actress Aurora Browne plays cutthroat real estate agent Blayne in the show. No stranger to Toronto’s comedy scene, Browne is a Second City alum and one of the co-creators and stars of The Baroness Von Sketch Show, a multi-award-winning CBC series fronted by an all-female ensemble. 

To get into her character’s headspace, Browne said she leaned on her own experiences with predatory developers: “My husband, my son, and I were renovicted,” she says. “I knew what it felt like to be on the other side of that [interaction]. I had to try and think back on ‘what were these guys like?’ They just were really interested in their own desires.”

Browne expressed that a long rehearsal process enriched the production experience, helping the cast bond and making it “really easy to find little moments to go with the flow of the group.” As an ensemble, the actors move through the set (staged to resemble an open-concept home layout) like a hive of bees, weaving and winding their way through the bubbling chaos. Their movements become increasingly frenzied as tensions continue to rise beneath the surface, inciting petty squabbles and eventually, full-on brawls. 

“It’s easier to fight with people that you’re actually quite delighted by in real life,” Browne added. “We do have to trust each other because there’s a lot of [physicality] in the play . . . it’s good that we all feel very safe to go to all these places because the characters are in conflict so much.”

With the audience seated in the round and few sound cues, the cast creates their own vocal soundscape—effectively establishing a warm, inviting echo chamber of laughter amongst the audience. The play’s dark comedy features a little something for everyone, ranging from punchy quips to well-choreographed stunts. Browne adds that humour can be an excellent tool for social commentary—“comedy is like a rocket that just pierces somebody’s protective shell, and an idea can ride that laugh right into the middle of your brain.”

Comedy aside, playwright Michael Ross Albert unflinchingly holds the characters’ basest desires and inner traumas to the light, as friends and even family members lord their respective advantages over each other. To Browne, the humour and emotional beats work together to function as a looking glass for the audience. 

“The characters are so deep into their wants that they get this tunnel vision…[the play] holds up those desires and that selfishness for the people in the audience to laugh at and consider, ‘is that how I am? Is that what this process does to us?’”

The Bidding War ultimately invites thorough contemplation, laughter, and introspection from its audience as it provides a glimpse into a market that is increasingly cruel and unfeeling. The play highlights the cyclical, unrelenting pattern of the housing market as the figurative wheel continues to turn, leaving developers richer and disenfranchising the marginalized. 

For anyone affected by the impacts of the housing crisis, Browne has a clear, uplifting message about The Bidding War: “It’s worth [your] time. Even if [you’re] not homeowners and feel like [you] never could be, it’s still worth seeing.”

The Bidding War is on stage now until Sunday, December 15th at Crow’s Theatre.