"Good With People"

Andrew Scott-Ramsay and Blythe Duff star in David Harrower's "Good With People," launching the 2013 Brits Off Broadway festival at 59E59 Theaters. Photos by Carol Rosegg

Having a nuclear test site in your town might put a damper on tourism. Helensburgh, Scotland has been made relatively desolate. 

People come, but just for day trips, as Helen Hughes (Blythe Duff) laments in "Good With People," David Harrower's play enjoying a NY premiere at 59E59 Theaters, through April 21st.

Helen works at the Seaview Hotel where Evan Bold (Andrew Scott-Ramsay) is one of the few guests. Evan, who's been in Qatar and Peshawar as a charge nurse for many years, has returned for his parents' remarriage.

Blythe Duff  and Andrew Scott-Ramsay star in David Harrower's "Good With People," launching the 2013 Brits Off Broadway festival at 59E59 Theaters. Photos by Carol Rosegg

Evan and Helen share an unpleasant history since Evan, out of loyalty to his dad's job at the naval facility, was one of the boys from the base who bullied her son Jack after he protested nuclear testing.

The actors are both very good story tellers, holding the attention, despite a minimal story to tell.

Puns and misapprehensions provide some modicum of amusement in "Good With People,"

but Harrower's very short script seems a bit self-indulgent. Long pauses seem like superfluous dramatic tics in a play that is just an hour long.

"Good With People" is the Scots part of 59E59's annual Brits Off Broadway festival. It is produced by Traverse Theatre Company and Datum PPaines Plough.

For more information about "Good With People," and Brits Off Broadway, please visit 59e59.org..

The Scottish Plays Open In April At 59E59

Not the one by Shakespeare whose name famously must not be spoken, but a new batch of plays coming directly from Scotland to kick off 2012—The Year of Creative Scotland are due at 59E59 Theaters beginning on April 4th. The celebrated playwright David Harrower will direct his “A Slow Air” which comes to NY from the Glasgow’s Tron Theatre, via a premiere at the Traverse Theatre at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. “A Slow Air,” scheduled for a short run from April 4 through the 29th , examines the effect that the 2007 Glasgow Airport attacks have on an estranged family.

Allison Pill and Jeff Daniels in the MTC production of David Harrower’s “Blackbird.” Photo © Joan Marcus

(Find out more about David Harrower.)

“Federer Versus Murray,” a dark comedy about bereavement and war, was shortlisted for the London Fringe Theatre Writing Award in 2010 when it premiered at the Oran Mor in Glasgow. It subsequently went on the to 2011 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it played the Assembly Hall. “Federer Versus Murray,” written and directed by Gerda Stevenson, will run from April 4th through the 22nd. The two-hander will be produced by Communicado Theatre Company and features Gerda Stevenson and Dave Anderson.

Here's an interview with Gerda Stevenson about "Federer Versus Murray:" Click here.