After spending a long weekend in Kentucky for work (that blog post is forthcoming), I had originally intended to try a new restaurant with a handsome chum last night. However, he had read a rave review for a new play over at 59E59 in their Brits Off-Broadway festival, so we decided to check that out instead. Once again, theater trumps food (which probably was for the best, which you'll read about in the previously mentioned upcoming post).
Good With People, by David Harrower, has had several productions in England and Scotland, but is now enjoying its US premiere. Only 55 minutes long, this play still packs quite a punch. At least it did for me. A two-character piece, Good With People looks at how people are defined, yet run from, their past. We meet Helen, a hotel clerk, who gives us a brief description of how her town has changed in the years since the nuclear base set up. You can hear the wistfulness as she describes what used to be. When the single hotel guest checks in, we see how people can suddenly strike sparks with each other, either positively or negatively.
We discover that the hotel guest, Evan, once bullied Helen's young son. It happened over ten years ago, yet that event defined Helen's life. She never saw her son in the same way and their relationship disintegrated. She never saw her town or herself in the same way again, either, and she has let herself become estranged from her son and husband. Once Evan walks in, she's confronted with the reality of what she's done, and she's both attracted and repulsed by this young man, who forces her to look at herself and her behavior. Though Evan has a past to run from as well. His childhood in the town was a sad one, with people looking down on him because his family worked for the nuclear base. He has always felt like an outsider, and tried to get away, but couldn't resist the pull to come back. He became a nurse and has been volunteering in Pakistan, where he ran into some bullies of his own.
I just really identified with both of these characters - I identified with Helen's hanging on to the idea of her life instead of living it, and her hunger for a connection that she just can't grasp. I also identified with Evan's feelings of being an outsider. He had one line that just made me sit up a little straighter (I'm paraphrasing and got a little assist from the handsome chum): "I always felt stupid saying something intelligent here." I can really relate to that, as someone who grew up in a small town where education and intelligence weren't really valued. But many of the ideas were interesting to me - bullying, small town class warfare, personal responsibility, guilt and forgiveness. Really, there was a lot to experience in this brief piece.
Anyway, I found their dance around their pasts and their futures really intriguing, and I was also very intrigued by the staging. Props would appear and disappear and I have no idea how they got there. It was sort of magical. The fact that theater magic was happening in this tiny space, with nothing more than one rug and a chair (and two terrific actors), was a special treat.
In the interest of full disclosure, my handsome chum did not have the same experience. I'm sorry he didn't enjoy the production as much as I did, but, hey, we did have a nice chat afterwards. There is nothing wrong with a show that starts at 7:15, is over by 8:10, and you can have a good chat, head your separate ways, then still get home by 10. Thumbs up from me. :)
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