Driving a Life Off the Lot

"When a woman says she wants a new car, she wants a new life."

Let me just start by saying I am mostly happy with my car. It's not perfect and it could use a tune-up, so make of that what you will.

But that was the premise of "Becky's New Car," the new production at Barksdale Theater at Hanover Tavern  where I spent my Saturday evening.

My companion and I made sure to get there in time to have a little something to eat and drink before the show, only to roll up and discover that not one, but two weddings were in full swing.

The pub was closed due to one of the weddings and the restaurant was full of everyone who'd made it there before us.

But we weren't bitter because we should have made reservations (apparently) and we were not alone.

Sitting on the wide front porch of the tavern enjoying the night air, almost every person who was arriving for the play was bummed to hear that there'd be no pre-theater food or drink.

As one women put it in her most dire voice, "You mean I can't have a drink during the play?"

No, honey, you're going to have to brave live theater sober.

The story of a woman whose life takes a detour when she meets a rich man was full of comic observations ("Life is chaos and holidays").

David Bridgewater played the loving if not overly romantic husband ("Aw, Becky, we've had a good day. Let's not ruin it by having a talk") in his usual sure-handed way.

Even when he's ad-libbing, he's in full command.

The psychology-studying and spouting son provided all the psychobabble to explain what the characters were experiencing around him, reminding me of Peanuts' Lucy when she hangs out her "Doctor is Real In" shingle.

It was a play where the fourth wall was non-existent.

Melissa Johnston Price, the Becky of the title, was talking to the audience soliciting their opinions about whether to cheat (all three voted no and yet...), helping with her office duties (poorly, as she pointed out) and assisting her in a costume change (that's two full slips I've seen onstage in a week).

Eventually her husband and lover meet ("Things unravel much more quickly than they ravel"), making for an encounter both realistically uncomfortable and wildly hysterical.

It was the unpredictability of the story that kept it from being just another relationship saga. Characters seemed like real people with real issues, just with much wittier takes on everything.

At times it felt a little like a Shakespearean comedy with parallel events happening, like the husband and lover talking to each other on the phone without knowing who the other was.

And Becky's son falling in love with the rich man's daughter without either knowing the other's parents.

But, also like with the Bard, everything came together neatly (including the husband telling the audience how things would end between the lovers..his way) in the last scene.

And the audience, who had been laughing throughout, heard words of wisdom for the ages minus the thees and thous and forsooths.

"Love has made you impossibly stupid."

Well, duh. Who needs a drink to understand (or enjoy) that?