12th Play - Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire
Becky Ann Baker (Jean), Estelle Parsons (Dottie) and Frances McDormand (Margie) in the Broadway production in 2011 Credit...Sara Krulwich/The New York Times
I had heard of this play and loved Lindsay-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole. I did not know anything about Good People when I started reading, but felt like I fell into (not an intentional Rabbit Hole reference, but …) something very relevant to what is happening in America right now. It’s always the haves and the have-nots, isn’t it? I keep hoping one day we’ll figure out how to balance that out, but our country is certainly not on that path right now. I’m speaking in big generalities, but this play tells one woman’s story, bringing those “generalities” to life in a wonderfully funny and complex way. Lindsay-Abaire tells a damn good story. Also, shout out to my friend Bryan Breau who is in a production of this in Chicago right now at the Greenhouse by 4 Chairs Theatre. He’s awesome and I bet the show is too - I’m hoping to get to see it!
Summary: “Welcome to Southie, a Boston neighborhood where a night on the town means a few rounds of bingo, where this month’s paycheck covers last month’s bills, and where Margie Walsh has just been let go from yet another job. Facing eviction and scrambling to catch a break, Margie thinks an old fling who’s made it out of Southie might be her ticket to a fresh new start. But is this apparently self-made man secure enough to face his humble beginnings? Margie is about to risk what little she has left to find out. With his signature humorous glow, Lindsay-Abaire explores the struggles, shifting loyalties and unshakeable hopes that come with having next to nothing in America.” Concord Theatricals
Laura’s thoughts in brief: As there’s a production in Chicago happening right now, I don’t think it will be done again in a while, so my chances of getting to play in it are small. But it’s a GREAT show and I’d love to play Margie or even Margie’s totally annoying friend Jean. I’m too young for Dottie, and I’m not lamenting that, but maybe one day! I would have LOVED to see Frances McDormand in the show. Margie is tough and abrasive, and as a Southern-born Midwesterner, I found her a bit terrifying. But a good actor like McDormand would absolutely make you see the vulnerability underneath the character, and why she almost has to be that way.
The character of Mike, Margie’s brief fling before he went off to college, who has made it “out” of Southie, is also wonderfully complex. He’s sort of the villain but not really - he actually is kind to Margie and tries to be helpful until she crosses his boundaries. I say he’s sort of the villain since he’s now wealthy with a nice young wife (who happens to be Black, with an understanding of marginalization and an empathy for Margie’s situation, which adds some interesting moments in the play) and lives in a big house in a fancy neighborhood now. When Margie says to him, “You’re all lace-curtain Irish now,” Mike is quite offended. “You’re not … Southie at all. … You wouldn’t know that that’s where you’re from, I’m saying,” she explains. And although Margie says that she thinks it’s “awesome,” Mike knows it’s not really a compliment. Except that it kind of is, as Margie would LOVE to be in his shoes…
I think everyone who ever says “they can pull themselves up by their bootstraps” should read this play. Margie has lost many jobs, usually for showing up late. At first we just think that she’s lazy or can’t manage her time. But we discover that she has a severely developmentally disabled child and every time she’s late, it’s because she can’t leave her daughter, or there’s a problem with public transportation. The caretaker issue goes without explanation, I think. And as someone who lives in a city where public transportation usually works pretty well, I can empathize with that problem as well. Sometimes I get a message that there is trouble with the Red line and I know that a bunch of my pretty responsible actors are going to be late through no fault of their own. But also, as a director/teacher who has to get things done, people who are late all the time are problematic. It’s a tricky situation. Neither Mike or Margie is in the wrong. Does Margie go too far in moments? Yes, I think she does a bit. But I might too, if I was desperate to find money to pay my rent and support my kid. There are no real resolutions to these issues in this play, and it doesn’t really leave you with any easy answers or even a “good” feeling. But it does make you think and definitely may give you some empathy. Oh, did I mention it’s also FUNNY!!! All of this and it’s still quite funny. Until it’s not. My favorite kind of theatre. Read it, go see it!!!
READ MORE! Here’s what some of the critics had to say about productions:
https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/theater/reviews/04good.html
https://chicagoreader.com/performing-arts/theater/theater-review/good-people-4-chairs-theatre/
https://www.timeout.com/chicago/theater/good-people-at-steppenwolf-theatre-company-theater-review