History and comedy collide on the Globe Theatre’s revitalized new stage in a show exploring a cornerstone of Canada’s heritage.
A history-laden show told through modern language and sensibilities, Women of the Fur Trade follows three women from different cultural viewpoints as they contemplate men, colonizer influences, Métis leader Louis Riel and the critical fur trade that sat at the intersection of many of these ideas. Writer Frances Koncan uses language from the 19th and 21st-century to delve into the perspectives of these women trying to make their mark in a difficult world.
Yvette Nolan, the director of the production at Regina’s Globe Theatre, has already directed the show once before. She said every time you come back to a play, you find new things within it and the world around you.
“There are shows I’ve directed over and over again, and every time you get to dig a little bit deeper and discover new things, and that’s certainly true of this play,” Nolan said. “When you get to return to the text over and over again, you get to dig in, but also the context changes. The world changes.”
Nolan, who is of Irish-Canadian and Algonquin descent, said the play explores a critical part of Canada’s — and Saskatchewan’s — history. She said staging the play in Regina adds one more level of depth to the biting comedy.
“Here in the Prairies, people know this story better. They know these characters better, they know the references better. It’s still funny, just kind of deeper and sharper,” she said.
The Globe Theatre recently re-opened its doors after extensive renovations to the space, revitalizing Canada’s only permanent and professional “theatre-in-the-round” — a centralized stage surrounded on all sides by audience seating. The theatre hosted its first professional show on the new stage back in November after multiple years and delays, and Women of the Fur Trade is only the second Globe Theatre show on the renovated stage. The theatre is expected to fully re-open later this year as part of a multi-phase plan.
Nolan said building a show in the round presented both exciting challenges and interesting benefits. Because the stage is in the centre of the audience, Nolan said the show was constantly moving to not keep anyone’s back to the crowd for too long — which helps fuel the energy of the cast and characters.
She lauded the new and improved space at the Globe Theatre, and the power of bringing this play to the stage. Nolan said she hoped the audience could walk away from the show questioning the truths of history and feel eager to go home and learn more about this part of Canadian history.
“I think it would be great if people went back to their histories. The history we were taught in school is not the history we’re starting to know now,” she said. “History never leaves us. We’re forced to live it over and over again, and in terms of reconciliation it’s interesting in a place where everybody talks about the land and land acknowledgements to come and see a play like this and go ‘oh, that’s what we’re talking about when we talk about the homeland of the Métis.'”
Women of the Fur Trade runs until February 23 at the Globe Theatre in Regina. Tickets can be purchased online at globetheatrelive.com.
