THE HANGOVER REPORT – Ngozi Anyanwu’s GOOD GRIEF explores the depths of young loss, richly and soulfully

Ngozi Anyanwu and Ian Quinlan in Ms. Anyanwu's "Good Grief" at the Vineyard Theatre. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Ngozi Anyanwu and Ian Quinlan in Ms. Anyanwu’s “Good Grief” at the Vineyard Theatre. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

This past weekend, I caught Ngozi Anyanwu’s rich, soulful new play Good Grief at the Vineyard Theatre. The play recounts a potent, budding romance between two childhood friends, Nkechi and MJ. When tragedy strikes and MJ is killed in a car crash, Nkechi is left behind to process her situation, causing her to experience a grief so deep that it threatens to psychologically consume her.

Structurally, Ms. Anyanwu’s play depicts this profound, all-consuming sense of loss through a compact collage of scenes that bleed into one another – doing away with chronology – creating a tightly-knit collage that punches both Nkechi (and us audience members) in the gut with unexpected force. It’s this intensity of feeling, combined with the play’s inviting intimacy, that distinguishes Ms. Anyanwu’s writing. Thematically, there’s a lot going on in Good Grief – perhaps the play is just a tad too richly furnished for its own good, which nearly topples the slight play into the realm of implausibility. Nevertheless, Ms. Anyanwu ambitiously attempts to explore the intersection of young one and loss, mythology, and memory, elegantly connecting the dots between these three disparate pillars.

The play is staged with grace and fluidity by director Awoye Timpo. Even though scenes don’t play out conventionally, his crisp directorial work makes sure that we’re are completely on the same page at all times. The cast is also rather quite good. As the central pair of lovers Nkechi and MJ, respectively, Ms. Anyanwu (who does double duty as both playwright and lead) and Ian Quinlan are well-paired, giving likable performances of great intelligence, conviction, and painful transparency. The rest of the cast effectively haunts Nkechi’s musings like ghosts lost in time and space; each gives beautifully-etched performances.

RECOMMENDED

 

GOOD GRIEF
Off-Broadway, Play
Vineyard Theatre
1 hour, 30 minutes (without an intermission)
Through November 18

Categories: Off-Broadway, Theater

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