You’ve got children to raise, bills to pay, rent to consider. And you have a business to keep on its feet if you want to put food on your own table. Is it possible in these times of upward mobility and career lifestyles to both be good and survive?

That’s the question Bertolt Brecht asks in the play “The Good Woman of Setzuan,” which the Belfast Maskers, under the direction of Basil Burwell, opened last weekend at the Railroad Theater in Belfast.

In a picturesque production that features a laudably even cast of community performers, “Good Woman” presents a parable for our times. Three gods arrive in the Chinese province of Setzuan in the late 1930s. They are in search of a good person whose existence will justify the continued existence of the world. But they must also find a place to sleep, and a shifty water-seller agrees to assist. After being turned away by several households that want nothing to do with gods, the water-seller finds a room in the house of Shen Ti, a prostitute who is willing to love her neighbor, but who must also insist on payment so that she may earn a living.

She does, in fact, give up a trick so that the gods may stay with her, and they reward her generously with enough money to make a career change. Shen Ti opens a tobacco shop and immediately is besieged by others who want to ride on the coattails of her success. Her goodness, which had been so genuine in the beginning, serves her poorly when the stakes are class division, competition and exploitation. Even in love, she learns that the economics can be costly. Finally, Shen Ti must divide herself and dress in the clothes of a fictitious male cousin, Shui Ta, who ruthlessly manages the woman’s affairs.

Brecht means for us to be challenged by this un-naturalistic tale. Bringing home the bacon often estranges us from the goodness with which we were born, and Brecht wants us to re-think the exchange. We must find a way to be good and to make sure that what we leave behind is good. It’s best, too, to adopt the motto: God helps them who help themselves. In Brecht’s world, you just can’t depend on too much divine intervention — or interest.

Although somewhat slow moving, Burwell’s production is elegant and straightforward. Juniper Purinton, as Shen Te and her alter ego Shui Ta, is a graceful and clear-voiced performer. She’s as guilty as anyone of moving too slowly, but her performance is truly a dance and it’s a pleasure to be under her spell. Purinton’s brother, Amon, has a similar charm as the water-seller. And Randy George is forceful as Shen Te’s mercantile lover, Yang Sun.

The entire cast of 24 actors — young and old — helps create this play as a cohesive piece. The gods — Blair Einstein, William Nelson and Peter Paton — are often quite amusing in their chorus-like roles. And Ben Kushner, as the grandfather, does a poetic dance that is filled with the wisdom, serenity and simplicity of his aged character.

Without Nell Moore’s set design and costuming, however, the production would be less pointed. What the acting lacks in Brechtian sharpness, humor and cynicism, Moore’s work makes up for in appearances.

The show’s lesson is uncomplicated enough to appeal to any theatergoer, but it’s definitely not entertainment in the most popular sense. It takes work to watch Brecht, and most people only want to work at work. That is, after all, what puts food on the table.

The Belfast Maskers will present “The Good Woman of Setzuan” 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 5 p.m. Sunday through July 2 at the Railroad Theater in Belfast. For tickets, call 338-9668