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Regional Reviews: Washington, D.C. Good People Also see Susan's review of The Motherfucker with the Hat
The crux of the drama is how much individuals should be expected to do for themselves in tough times, and what the surrounding community can and should do to help them. In other words, many people use the term "personal responsibility," but no two people define it exactly the same way. Director Jackie Maxwell, artistic director of the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, respects the playwright's words and balances the humanity of the characters against the underlying issues. Good People follows Margie Walsh (Johanna Day), a tough-talking single mother from the close-knit South Boston neighborhood, as she struggles with personal and financial problems. Margie has an adult daughter who is developmentally disabled and needs constant care, but the time she devotes to her daughter cuts into her work hours as a cashier at a dollar store and she's on the verge of losing her low-wage job. (The play is not overtly political; the characters seek relief on a personal basis, not a change in the system.) Residents of "Southie" may have abrasive personalities and insult each other as a matter of course, but they're fiercely loyal. Margie's landlady Dottie (Rosemary Knower) and friend Jean (Amy McWilliams) bicker and hold grudges while they commiserate and go to bingo together. As it happens, Margie's long-ago boyfriend, Mike (Andrew Long), had some opportunities to move beyond Southie, and now he's a successful doctor. Margie asks him for help in finding work, and their ensuing conversation—also including Mike's wife Kate (Francesca Choy-Kee), a literature professor—stirs up a lot of old, lightly buried animosity. Day gives a masterful performance as a woman fighting to keep her head above water. She's prickly yet sensitive, determined to stay within her self-image as a good person. Long is excellent in depicting a man who has succeeded in the present by submerging the more negative aspects of his past. Todd Rosenthal's scenic design economically conveys both the hulking houses of Southie and the airy, elegantly decorated living room of Mike and Kate's house in suburban Chestnut Hill. Linda Cho's costumes instantly convey the socioeconomic status and personal taste of their wearers. Arena Stage
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