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May 21, 2010
Traveling on the roads of life
Becky’s New Car takes its audience on a highly entertaining ride.
BAILA LAZARUS
You’ve probably heard the expression “The heart wants what the heart wants.” What would you do if an opportunity came up in your life that led your heart in one direction and caused you to question the life you’d been living? What if it started to erode your moral code?
This is the dilemma faced by Becky (Deborah Williams) in the Arts Club Theatre Company’s new production, Becky’s New Car.
Not having seen Mom’s the Word or its two sequels (of which Williams is one of the creators and stars), I hadn’t had the pleasure of seeing her in a play before, but I have to say I’d be the first to line up if I saw her name on a marquee again. From her opening lines apologizing to the audience for the mess in her house, to the final scene where ... well, I don’t want to spoil the surprise ... she keeps the audience engaged with curiosity and laughter.
Director Rachel Ditor does a fantastic job with the (mostly) excellent actors, who move between Becky’s home, her office and her lover’s beachside villa. Ditor directs the characters of Becky and her husband, Joe (Cavan Cunningham), to absolute believability.
The title of the play is derived from Becky’s career and her somewhat sad resignation of where she finds herself in life.
Becky sells new cars for a living and believes there’s nothing more special than having that perfect car to take you away.
“Have you ever been as happy in your garden as you have in your car on a good day?” she asks the audience at the play’s outset. Her longing of that “good day” is contrasted by her secure (read: tedious) life with her husband and son, the latter of whom she tries with futility to get to participate in household chores rather than go out partying.
After relating one failed attempt to get her son to fill up the dishwasher, she says, “My son was loaded and the dishwasher was not,” conveying the sentiment of what it’s like to live her life.
Day in and day out, Becky heads to work, selling cars, often staying late to finish up paper work, avoiding her life at home.
One day, Walter (Jackson Davies), a very rich widower, walks into the office wanting to buy nine new cars for his employees. He wants to show his appreciation but feels he’s terrible at buying gifts, but “everyone likes cars,” he says.
Becky is amazed by his generosity and gets a little star-struck when Walter mistakenly believes she’s a widow and starts flirting with her. He invites her to a party at his cottage. At first, Becky declines, but the allure of an escape from her doldrums is too strong, and soon she is lying to her family so she can participate in her new tryst.
Contrasting Becky’s “live life to the fullest” excitement is one of the car salesmen – Steve (Hrothgar Mathews) – who is both pathetic and funny as he laments the death of his wife in a hiking accident. Wanting company, he invites friends over for social evenings, but subjects them to slideshows of his wife.
“There are a couple of new photos making it worth watching all again,” he says to Becky, in an unsuccessful attempt to get her and Joe over to his place.
Joe, meanwhile, is the naïve, good-natured, solid-as-a-rock husband, a roofer, playing into life’s comfortable stereotypes, missing Becky’s clues that warn something’s wrong.
“Why are you so good to me?” Becky asks at one point, demonstrating a level of guilt that should cause Joe some suspicion. Instead, he responds, “We’ve had a nice day. Why do we have to ruin it with a talk?”
As the play progresses, Becky’s affair with Walter continues, but soon, not only is it hard to keep the liaison a secret, but the lives of her family and those of her lover begin to intertwine in unexpected and comical ways. Both the theme and the plot kept the audience entertained throughout the show.
What I also loved about the play is how it throws in the odd narration here and there (Becky or Joe turning to the audience to describe the action or say how they’re feeling about different situations). As well, the production mixes in a bit of improv-style audience participation, actually talking to members in the audience, handing them props or calling them up on stage. In one uproarious scene, three audience members have to help Becky get dressed for a party, and one of them has to help a somewhat ample Becky squeeze into a pair of tummy-control leotards. Neither of these two techniques is overdone, however, so the result is a great balance of serious self-reflection and hilarious situation comedy.
Becky’s New Car runs at the Granville Island Stage until June 5. Visit artsclub.com or call 604-687-1644 for tickets.
Baila Lazarus is a freelance writer, painter and photographer. Her work can be seen at orchiddesigns.net.
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