"Boston comes to Beverley - Adrian Rawlins directs GOOD PEOPLE at ERT

East Riding Theatre’s artistic director, Adrian Rawlins, will be directing the theatre’s first in-house production of the year, Good People which opens on 1st March 2018.

Written by Pulitzer prize winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire and awarded the 2011 New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play, Good People is set in South Boston, USA. The play follows single-mother Margie Walsh who is down on her luck – fired from her job at the dollar store and under threat of being kicked out by her landlady, Margie’s only hope seems to be a good win at the Bingo. Hearing that an old flame has made good as a doctor and is back in town, Margie takes her chance to see if he can throw her a lifeline.

Rawlins, an actor on stage and screen for 30 years (Hard Sun, Girlfriends, Darkest Hour, War and Peace) took over as artistic director at ERT in January last year.Good People marks his second outing as a director at ERT following his acclaimed debut last year with The Night Season.

Speaking of his choice of play, Rawlins says: “What drew me to Good People was the thrill and challenge of transporting Beverley to downtown Boston USA. Plays have the power to take us on a journey and give us an insight into people’s lives that we wouldn't normally come across. Through the brilliant, witty and incisive writing of David Lindsay-Abaire, I found myself looking through a window into the life of Margie Walsh and her community...their struggles, their audacity, their vulnerability, and found it totally compelling. I hope our audiences will too.”

Yorkshire-born actor Joy Brook (whose TV appearances include Emmerdale, Eastenders and The Bill and who recently appeared on stage in the UK tour of The Railway Children) will take the lead role of Margie.

Speaking of her upcoming role, Brook says: “Margie is an astonishing woman who Iives day to day in the hope that tomorrow will be better - or at least, no worse. She is funny, brave - and as we all are - occasionally foolhardy. As an actor, what could be more challenging than a character who has nothing to hide behind? It's also lovely to be coming home to Yorkshire to play this part - I think Yorkshire grit and Boston grit are pretty much the same thing!”

Completing the cast, Janet Prince makes a welcome return to ERT following her appearances in Great Expectations and Murder, Margaret and Me. She is joined by Misha Duncan-Barry, Michael Kinsey, Rory Murray and Nada Sharp.

Good People runs from Thu 1st March to Saturday 24th March 2018"

An ERT Production

Good People

By David Lindsay-Abaire

Directed by Adrian Rawlins

East Riding Theatre (ERT), Beverley, East Yorkshire

Thu 1st March – Sat 24th March 2018

7.30pm and 2.30pm

Tickets £14 - £18