Theatre Review: Good Grief Is The Truest Portrayal of Loss At Vineyard Theatre
Playing at Vineyard Theatre until November 18, Good Grief is a simple, lovely pleasure to the NYC theatre circuit. In just 90 minutes, it makes you laugh, cry, and think about how you grieve. In this world, inevitably, you will lose somebody you love. You will go through the maddening pangs of pain that clutch your heart when somebody, who defined your life, is now completely and devastatingly inaccessible to it.
Ngozi Anyanwu plays Nkechi. A smart, bitingly witty and incredibly kind young woman, who goes from child to woman in love with MJ (Ian Quinlan). Through flashbacks, you see how much their friendship and eventual relationship defined her as a human being. The chemistry between these two actors is full of sweetness and innocence. They are so natural in their portrayals of these characters that you truly feel like you are witnessing the blossoming beginning and the tragic end of a young love. Like, Nkechi, you become transfixed by what was and could have been.
When you lose somebody you love, your mind is torn between two halves. The first is the past, of which you consistently replay memories to either remember every detail or add a few you wish had occurred. Though your bond with the person you list is always clear, how it, specifically, grow becomes warped by your obsession for comfort and your mind’s need to know that love still matters even if the person you love is gone. You see this as Nkechi constantly freezes a moment, and then redoes if for what actually happened. Again, Ngozi Anyanwu is so magnetic and noble in her approach of loss, you cry because you either know her pain or know you will know it. Thus, your mind is then divided into its second half: the future.
As Nkechi struggles to move on, you realize it is because she fears not remembering or homaging enough what MJ meant to her. He was her future, and Quinlan gives MJ such a level of charisma, you wish he was alive and apart of your life. Yet, Nkechi has a family that is hilarious, supportive, and breathes fresh air in a play that could get unabashedly sad. Her brother (Nnamdi Asomugha), her Papa (Oberon K.A. Adjepong), and her Nene (Patrice Johnson Chevannes) emanate a warmth that represents how, even in loss, we still have people we must continue to live for. Yet, the incessant challenge for Nkechi is how she can continue into her future with MJ on her mind and heart. She wants him to fade so that she does not cry everyday for him, but she also wants him to be her ghost so that, in some fashion, she she can feel he is still apart of her path.
Death is always hard, and I do not think you ever get over such loss. Nearly every scene, from the humorous to the mournful, makes death feel like an unwritten character. He is always there watching the living try to live knowing that he will take the people they love until, one day, he takes you. Directed by Awoye Timpo, I am in love with this play, and, especially its writing. Not to many plays go for the grounded nature of grief. In truth, it is way simpler and humbling than it is often portrayed. It is the moments when Nkechi wants to hang out with MJ, and he is not there. It is the moment, when she finds herself attracted to another man, JD (Hunter Parrish), but feels like she is cheating on MJ. It is the moment when she wants to, simultaneously, stay in bed and cry forever, but also wants to move forward with her life without feeling so guilty that he cannot. For More Information On Good Grief Click Here.
