Preview: In the house

For those looking to ease into festival season this year, In the House promises to be one of the most intimate and unusual public events of the summer.

The two day multi-arts festival features music, theatre, dance, spoken word, puppets, storytelling, burlesque, and more.

And it all takes place in the living rooms and backyards of a cluster of houses around the 1100 block of Semlin Drive.

Myriam Steinberg, the festival’s artistic director, says In the House is an “outside the box solution” to the dwindling availability of performance venues in Vancouver.

The setting, Steinberg explains, creates a “warm atmosphere” and fosters community. She says performers love “being able to feed off the [energy of the] audience. That’s hard to do when you’re six feet higher than them.”

The festival, in it’s fourth year, is the annual culmination of a regular series of themed performance events. Upcoming monthly shows include “Cabaret des baguettes,” “History of Vancouver,” and “Film Meets life.”

Somehow, Steinberg says, “there are always the exact right number of people for each house.”

The exception is the festival’s Sexy Variety Show, from which they’ve had to turn people away; Steinberg expects it will sell out again this year.

Other festival highlights include a dance program that runs the gamut, from popping by Nelson “Dedos” Garcia, to flamenco by ¡Jaleo! and swing by Lucy Falkner and Léo Newman, as well as a Sunday afternoon blues session, and traditional Vietnamese musicians Khac Chi.

Steinberg says she’s looking forward to the grand finale, “The Land of No Return,” a storytelling extravaganza headed up by her sister, Naomi. The latter Steinberg is an accomplished teller who recently traveled to Israel and Palestine.

Last year’s story-finale, “Gawain, Ragnall and the Green Knight,” featured audience participation, stilt walkers, puppets, and fire, and this year’s finale promises to be equally spectacular.

In the House’s Saturday afternoon features a children’s show, but Steinberg encourages people to bring kids along to all events. “I think it’s important that kids start young,” she remarks.

In the House runs June 2nd and 3rd. Tickets available at Highlife Records and online: inthehousefestival.com