The vagaries of fate often determine whether or not we escape our circumstances to rise above our economic surroundings. But perhaps our own actions can affect that fate.
That is the issue at the heart of David Lindsay-Abaire’s Tony Award-nominated play from 2011, Good People, which weaves that thought-provoking notion around an entertaining tale of haves and have-nots and their class clash in the distant worlds of an affluent section of Boston and the dead-end south side of the city.
As the recession continues its slow crawl towards recovery, Good People remains remarkably current. When we first meet middle-aged Margie (Laura Turnbull), a “Southie” through and through, she is about to lose another job, this time as a lowly dollar store cashier. Habitually late for work because of the constant challenge of arranging affordable day care for her developmentally disabled adult daughter, Margie often wonders how her life would have been different if she had not gotten pregnant in high school and had all hopes of a promising future dashed.
In times of desperation, Margie idly imagines what her life would be like if she had not broken up with Mike (Stephen G. Anthony), a tough kid from the neighborhood who went on to become a doctor — a “reproductive endocrinologist,” no less — now living a life of comfort in Chestnut Hill. So with no prospects of work nearby, Margie steels herself and arrives at Mike’s office to ask him for a job.
Margie’s presence clearly makes Mike uncomfortable, as she goads him into feeling guilty for his success. Improbably, he invites her to his home later that week where his wife Kate (Renata Eastlick) is throwing him a birthday party. As Mike suggests, maybe one of his medical colleagues will have a job opening for her.
The second act takes place chiefly at Mike’s house, where the dialogue between him and Margie bristles with verbal attacks, resentments and recriminations. Turnbull and Anthony are as well matched as their characters are foreign to each other, with cucumber-cool Eastlick enlisted to referee.
As confrontational as the second act is, the first draws us in with humor. First there is store manager Stevie (Clay Cartland), ineptly trying to fire Margie, who counters with oft-told excuses and hollow pledges to become a model employee. Better yet are Margie’s bingo buddies — her aptly-named landlady Dottie (Barbara Bradshaw) and foul-mouthed, philosophical Jean (Elizabeth Dimon) — who commiserate with her over the economy and the neighborhood. Lindsay-Abaire, who won a Pulitzer Prize for the even darker Rabbit Hole and also wrote the flimsy Shrek the Musical, demonstrates an ability to pen comic lines laced with pain.
Director Joseph Adler juggles the play’s disparate tones skillfully, pacing the evening for maximum explosive impact. Scenic designer Lyle Baskin captures the class differences with a knowing eye, from Margie’s humble kitchen to Mike’s well-appointed living room.
Good People spans the economic and cultural divide in a way that holds up a two-way mirror and lets us all see ourselves and the destiny that got us where we are.
GOOD PEOPLE, GableStage at the Biltmore Hotel, 1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables. Through Sunday, Aug. 18. Tickets: $40-$50. Call: (305) 445-1119.