It’s been nearly four years since Regina’s Globe Theater closed its doors for a multimillion-dollar renovation.
“My first day of work at the Globe I looked up at the ceiling and heard something rattling around, and I heard stories about bats and I experienced one on my first day of work in my office,” said Jamie Boldt, director of The Globe Theatre. Executive Director.
Boldt said bats, lack of space and aging infrastructure were some of the issues that led to the closure of the historic downtown stage.
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“There were a lot of Band Aid (fixes) happening in the building and those Band Aids just weren’t stopping,” Boldt said.
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Globe Theater has been doing remote shows throughout the production process.
Courtesy of Globe Theater
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An overhead view of construction on the Globe Theatre.
Courtesy of Globe Theater
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Construction on the Globe Theater in downtown Regina.
Courtesy of Globe Theater
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A look inside the production at The Globe Theater in Regina.
Courtesy of Globe Theater
During the construction process, a lot of old memories were found hidden under the floor and in the walls, including some from before the show started.
Luke Kletke, the Ledcor project manager responsible for the construction, said, “Some beer bottles in the floor, in the dome we found an old pair of shoes which was interesting.”
“They must have been here for the last 120 years.”
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But things are finally starting to shape up at the century-old Prince Edward Building.
Boldt said construction is about halfway done and is expected to be completed early next year. The first new shows at the updated theater are planned for the fall of 2024, once they can get the teams back on stage to rehearse.
Spectators can expect larger aisles, larger seats and cupholders.
But it is near your seat. Stage construction is also getting a huge boom.
“Essentially we are building a new building within a building,” Kletke said.
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A rendered image of what the inside of the Globe Theater may look like after construction is complete.
Courtesy of P3Architecture
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A rendered image of what the inside of the Globe Theater may look like after construction is complete.
Courtesy of P3Architecture
A new catwalk will be built above the stage, and Boldt hopes the bats you’ll see will be part of the show.
Bolt said, “There can be some magic from above, things can be blown into space, and then we also have a trap room below, which means you can see some surprises from under that trap room.”
And while there are a lot of changes coming, the Globe Theater will still remain the only definitive theater in the round style theater in North America.
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