There are chairs everywhere. Wine glasses clutter a table and there’s a brown couch nestled in the corner of the rehearsal space with a throw blanket over the back. Red tape lines cut the large room into sections marked by signs on the white walls. A rack of clothes greets those late to rehearsal. This is where the performers of the Globe Theatre’s play Becky’s New Car run scenes, getting ready for the day when the play will make its debut.
“A woman has had a mid-life crisis and through the choices presented to her she goes on an emotional journey,” Neil Foster, playing Becky’s co-worker Steve, explained. The play, written by Steven Dietz, offers a different perspective on the mid-life crisis, which people visually associate with men, not women. “Because it’s a woman, the audience has a choice to be forgiving (to her) or not.”
At one point in the play, Foster explains how Becky asks her son what he is doing with his life and the son, played by Nathan Howe, turns the question back on her.
“It makes you think – have I helped anyone? Do I need a new house, car, life?” said Foster.
The co-worker Foster plays has a sad story, but he has a comical nature to him that, thankfully for Foster, isn’t forced. The audience doesn’t need to be spoon fed the funny bits in order to make them more believable, he said. Thanks to director Valerie Ann Pearson, Foster has the support he needs to make the co-worker as believable as possible.
Foster began his theatre journey over 30 years ago after being inspired by the high school play he participated in. He really doesn’t understand how he got into the theatre group.
“I was nerdy and overweight. I sat at a table with four other outsiders…I got in and for the first time I felt like I belonged. I had a family.” After taking workshops and earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, the rest is history. “I found my tribe,” he said.
One of the hardest parts for Foster in this production has been “trying to find where this guy lives…trying to be the character and not telling the audience what they should think about him.”
Foster keeps coming back to Regina for the Globe’s plays despite living in Toronto. “The cast, crew, and staff are so accommodating. The audience is so sophisticated. They love their theatre,” he said.
Becky’s is not the first play to walk across the Globe’s stage. The theatre company has been putting together productions since 1966 and Jonathan Hamelin, the publicist for the Globe, said live really is better.
“There are no cuts or second takes – everyone has to come together in the moment for every performance.”
While putting on exceptional plays, the Globe Theatre also provides classes to those who are interested in learning the ways of theatre.
“Our outreach program brings theatre creation workshops to children who otherwise might have restricted access to professional arts programming and the long term benefits of creative drama education,” said Hamelin.
Becky’s is a hilarious, intense play, says Hamelin, one people will easily get caught up in. “It’s controversial but you’ll be laughing throughout the whole thing.”
Tickets for Becky’s New Car start as low as $29. The production will run from Jan. 22 until Feb. 9 on the main stage.
