There are two main discourses happening at the heart of American playwright David Lindsay-Abaire’s sensitively wrought play GOOD PEOPLE. The weight and intractability of the class system that is prevalent in so many countries. And the question of Free Will versus fate. How do some good, hard working people succeed whereas others fall by the wayside?! Is it more about good fortune and the ability to make the most of one’s opportunities rather than one’s own native abilities that is the telling factor?! With these two themes running through the play, GOOD PEOPLE makes for compelling theatre.
The two leading characters- Margaret and Mike- were friends, and for a short time lovers, who grew up in Southie, a struggling, working class town situated in Boston. Whilst Margaret has lived mainly a hand to mouth existence, and is a single mother struggling to bring up a disabled daughter, Mike has gone on to establish a brilliant career as a medic, and is raising a family with a beautiful, intelligent wife in leafy, upmarket Chester Hill.GOOD PEOPLE starts with a tense scene with Margaret losing her job as a cashier in a local discount store after arriving late for work once too many times. She is in dire straits and needs to find another job quickly or she won’t even be able to make up the rent. After consulting her best friend Jean, she decides to visit Mike at his surgery. Maybe Mike will be able to find her a job?! Margaret has started on her troubled, anguished journey…
Ensemble Artistic Director Mark Kilmurry production, true to the play, is incisive. A fine cast of six inhabit their characters well and, at times, generate considerable heat on stage with some highly charged exchanges.
Tara Morice delivers a strong central performance. Her Margaret is living on the edge; very feisty and at the same time very vulnerable, due to her difficult situation and rather disturbed personality.
Gael Ballantyne is Margaret’s hard hearted, pushy landlady.
Jane Phegan plays Margaret’s very loquacious best friend, Jean.
Christopher Stollery is very credible as the now very straight professional Dr Mike who in his younger days was a bit of a wild boy.
Zindzi Okenyo is charming, and her look/feel is just right, as Mike’s attractive, academic, and a touch icy wife Kate who finds Margaret more than a bit of a handful when she visits the family home in the Second Act.
Lindsay-Abaire’s play is in two Acts and features some six scenes each in a different locale. Tobhiyah Stone Feller’s set, along with some clever use of props coming down from the top, easily takes us between the different settings. Kilmurry incorporates the actors using the theatre aisles and wings for some of the action.
I can’t help but wonder as to how this play will be received at the Ensemble with its considerable base of middle class and professional subscribers?! Definitely an interesting and challenging choice of play for Kilmurry to put on.
The Ensemble Theatre Company’s production of American playwright David Lindsay-Abaire’s GOOD PEOPLE opened at the Ensemble Theatre, 78 McDougall Street, Kirribilli on Wednesday 13 April and is playing until Saturday 21 May.
http://www.ensembletheatre.com.au