[NEohioPAL] Review of "Good People" at Cleveland Play House

[Bob Abelman]

CPH's 'Good People' makes for great theater

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 4/5/13

 

 

There is certainly something intriguing about the working class in old broken down cities like South Boston and Lowell, or at least film depictions of them.  

 

"Good Will Hunting,'' "The Departed' and "The Fighter" offer up a population of people rendered hard on the outside from the unrelenting pounding of public housing projects, tough winters and a failing economy, but soft in the middle with an unwavering loyalty to family and friends from the neighborhood.  They are armed only with a poor education, a burning hunger to survive, and an excess of attitude, faith and street-savvy resourcefulness.  

 

The good people in David Lindsay-Abaire's comedy "Good People," currently on stage at the Cleveland Play House's Allen Theatre, are of that ilk.  And they are depicted with such tenderness and respect that the profanity-laced verbal sparring these Southies call communication sounds like poetry, the blind pride they possess seems heroic, and their unrelenting devotion to one another is rare and admirable.  

 

Unlike the films, which feature locals shedding their skin at great personal sacrifice, changing their destiny and making something of themselves, "Good People" features a woman stuck in the mire of poor circumstances, few and bad choices, and lousy luck.  She is going nowhere and we love her all the more for it.  

 

Lindsay-Abaire, a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright ("Rabbit Hole"), certainly has a way with words.  The language in this play could not be more natural in terms of its cadence, construction and content, and it falls on the untrained ear as if we were native speakers.  

 

Yet, for all of the playwright's skills at storytelling, it's the director, performers and designers that give this play its vitality and heart.  It's this company's conviction and virtuosity that draw the audience into this intimate world of constant disappointment and hardship and makes it immediately accessible, painfully funny and very real.  

 

Kate Hodge is wonderful as Margie, a mouthy single mother who is fired as cashier at a Dollar Store for being perpetually late while waiting for unreliable neighbors to watch after her mentally challenged daughter.  Attractive but worn thin, spunky but emotionally spent, unworldly but street smaht, Hodge's depiction of Margie offers us a glimpse of her past, present and future simultaneously.  

 

Margie's core of compatriots is equally intriguing and brilliantly portrayed.  

 

Elizabeth Rich is a treat as the fiercely loyal best friend Jean.  Brutally honest and with the capacity to not only see through people's charade but brazenly call them on it, Rich's Jean is the perfect counterpart to inquisitive, insensitive and inconsiderate Dottie.  Every line Denny Dillon delivers as Dottie is a gem and every gesture is a sight gag.  They are joined by Stevie who, as manager of the Dollar Store, fired Margie but as just a guy from the neighborhood, is accepted as an friend.  Patrick Halley is absolutely charming in this role.

 

The best scenes in the play depict these four friends simply sharing a table at the local church's Bingo game, gossiping about old schoolmates and offering up blue-collar wisdom and witticisms.   Director Laura Kepley's best work takes place here, for the comic timing is impeccable, the emotions are real and the simplicity is disarming.  Kepley also has characters linger after the completion of their scenes, as if contemplating the ramifications of and adding punctuation to what transpired while the set is being changed. This little thing adds texture to this production.  

 

The play itself transitions from a delightful character study to riveting drama with a knife's edge when Margie confronts Mike, an ex-boyfriend from high school who went off to college, became a doctor, and settled in an affluent neighborhood far from Southie.  Her visit to his office, looking for a job, is awkward to say the least.  Her arrival at his home is even more so.   

 

This clash between characters and classes is, at first, merely a series of missteps and polite apologies, but it soon escalates into something raw, penetrating and hurtful.  The trigger point is when Margie refers to Mike as a "lace-curtain Irish," which activates his survivor's guilt and turns his casual demeanor into defensive anger and then rage.  As their reunion turns increasingly intense and confrontational, Mike's wife Kate steps in and steps up to put both of them in their proper place.  David Andrew Macdonald and Zoey Martinson, as Mike and Kate, are wonderful.  

 

All this activity takes place on a cleverly constructed set designed by Mimi Lien and lit by Michael Lincoln, which first appears as a solid brick alleyway.  Sections peel away in dramatic fashion to reveal fully realized locations.  

 

>From start to finish, from comedy to conflict and back again, "Good People" is great theater.     

 

"Good People" continues through April 14 in Cleveland Play House's Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare.  For tickets, which range from $15 to $69, call 216-241-6000 or visit www.clevelandplayhouse.com.   

 
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