When Karen Hines decided to purchase a home back in 2006, she never imagined the countless problems that would arise as a result of shoddy building practices and lackadaisical real-estate agents.

The ink had barely dried on her mortgage when Hines discovered how plagued with issues the tiny dwelling, initially described as a coach house, truly was. In less than three months, her dreams of living in a cozy home in one of Toronto’s hip neighbourhoods were dashed. From that point on, she dubbed it her “house of horrors”. In Hines’s solo show Crawlspace, she turns her life-altering experience into a dark, theatrical comedy, detailing the unimaginable struggles that persisted until the house was sold two years later. The Fishbowl, at 1398 Cartwright Street on Granville Island, is transformed into the aforementioned home, where renters in the audience are relegated to benches, while homeowners sit in cushy chairs. Catch this latest installment of the Micro Performance Series from Wednesday (February 8) to February 18.