You Should Have Stayed Home Too

A workshop preview of You Should Have Stayed Home Too, a documentary performance by Tommy Taylor drawn from a decade of overnight work in Hamilton and Toronto shelters, drop-ins, encampments and overdose prevention sites—and the arrival of the pandemic. The piece blends first-person testimony with live folk music, projected photographs and an immersive audience experience. Running through the performance is the story of Taylor’s late aunt, Vikky Taylor, who performed in a duo with Joni Mitchell in 1960s Yorkville. Her surviving recordings are brought to life by JUNO-nominated, multi Canadian Folk Music Award-winning musician Abigail Lapell. Each performance is followed by conversations and debates about the issues raised in the piece, just days before the municipal election.