EAST Riding Theatre’s artistic director, Adrian Rawlins, is directing the Beverley theatre’s first in-house production of 2018, Good People.

Opening on March 1, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire's American drama is set in South Boston, where single mother Margie Walsh 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.

As old wounds are opened and buried secrets unearthed, Lindsay-Abaire explores class, loyalty and destiny. Will Margie find the resolve and resourcefulness to pull through? Or is life like a game of bingo and down to pure luck? Most importantly, who are the good people?

Rawlins, an actor on stage and screen for 30 years who has appeared in Hard Sun, Girlfriends, Darkest Hour and War And Peace, took over as artistic director at East Riding Theatre in January last year. Good People marks his second ERT outing as a director, following his debut last year with The Night Season, Rebecca Lenkiewicz's tale of a dysfunctional family in a small Irish town.

York Press:

East Riding Theatre in rehearsal for Good People

Speaking of his latest 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 will take the lead role of Margie after television appearances in Emmerdale, EastEnders and The Bill and a stage role in the British tour of The Railway Children.

"Margie is an astonishing woman who lives day to day in the hope that tomorrow will be better or at least no worse," says Brook. "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."

Janet Prince returns to East Riding Theatre after her appearances in Great Expectations and Murder, Margaret And Me and she will be joined in Rawlins' cast by Misha Duncan-Barry, Michael Kinsey, Rory Murray and Nada Sharp.

Good People, winner of the 2011 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play, runs at East Riding Theatre, Beverley, from March 1 to 24, 7.30pm nightly plus 2.30pm Saturday matinees. Box office: 01482 874050 or at eastridingtheatre.co.uk.