Over fifty years before we started quiet quitting, Tom and Barbara Good rejected corporate drudgery in favour of new beginnings. While recent years have seen many of us growing our own food and living simpler lives nurturing sourdough starters, the Goods were the original eco-warriors – swapping the rat race for self-sufficiency, turning their garden into an allotment and installing chickens, pigs and a goat named Geraldine!
It’s the good life for them – but not for their next-door neighbours, Margo and Jerry Leadbetter. who are desperately trying to maintain their snooty status quo.
Following hot on the heels of their hugely successful The Vicar of Dibley earlier this year, the People’s have established a reputation for bringing small screen classics to their stage.
The Good Life on screen and in the theatre
The Good Life by John Esmonde and Bob Larbey ran for four series from 1975 to 1978. At its peak it attracted audiences of 16 million and made TV stars of Richard Briers, Felicity Kendal, Penelope Keith and Paul Eddington.
This theatrical reimagining by Jeremy Sams reunites the well-loved characters and plunges them into hilarious scrapes and escapades! About the show’s 2021 UK tour, Broadway World called it “a feel-good psychedelic 70s trip” while West End Best Friend said it “excels at bringing to life one of Britain’s greatest sitcoms”!
Director Steve Hewitt comments:
“This stage version retains all of the original’s charm and wit, whilst balancing the nostalgia with a knowing and more modern perspective. As we watch Tom and Barbara getting to grips with self-sufficiency, armed to the teeth with giant library books and the noblest of intentions, we can easily imagine how much time we’d spend watching YouTube tutorial videos if we attempted a similar feat today! And always the same question remains: could this actually work..?”
When is it on?
The Good Life is playing at the People’s Theatre in Heaton from Tuesday 4 to Saturday 8 October. The People’s is offering a reduced-capacity performance on the Tuesday for audience members who prefer a less busy space where mask-wearing is required.
Also in October, the People’s are heading Around the World in 80 Days! In Victorian London, the fabulously wealthy Phileas Fogg accepts a wager of £20,000, challenging that he can’t circumnavigate the globe in just eighty days. Cue a dazzling, madcap adventure that promises to be rollicking good fun for the whole family! All details at www.peoplestheatre.co.uk
