Together, playwright David Lindsay-Abaire and MTC have brought four outstanding new plays to the New York stage. Their most recent collaboration, RABBIT HOLE, earned Lindsay-Abaire the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Now, he returns to MTC, along with RABBIT HOLE director and Tony Award® winner Daniel Sullivan, to premiere his newest work, the timely and powerful GOOD PEOPLE.
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 has 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.
It’s a given that we don’t talk about class in this country, so it’s hardly surprising that we don’t see a lot of plays about it. (We don’t see many plays, period, but that’s a different, if related, matter.) David Lindsay-Abaire’s Good People — the latest in his Rabbit Hole realism phase — isn’t exactly an Odetsian war cry. But simply by broaching the subject of haves and have-nots, it will make a stir: Prepare for overpraise for “bravery” and abuse for not going further, for ending on a note perilously close to magical complacency. Whatever. Good People is a fine, small, heartfelt work that shadowboxes with social darkness in a safely lit room, floating on a vast sea of unsaid things.
Rabbit Hole, which he adapted for a 2010 film, focused on an attractive, accomplished couple whose seemingly charmed life was shattered by the accidental death of their 4-year-old son. In contrast, the central figure in Lindsay-Abaire's excellent new play, Good People (* * * ½ out of four), is a woman for whom things can only get better.
2011 | Broadway |
Manhattan Theatre Club Production Broadway |
2014 | West End |
West End Transfer West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Frances McDormand |
2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | David Lindsay-Abaire |
2011 | New York Drama Critics Circle Awards | Best Play | 0 |
2011 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Play | Frances McDormand |
2011 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Daniel Sullivan |
2011 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Estelle Parsons |
2011 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Renee Elise |
2011 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | 0 |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | Frances McDormand |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Play | David Lindsay-Abaire |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Manhattan Theatre Club |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Lynne Meadow |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Barry Grove |
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