'Good Bones' review — a new play with solid foundations
Read our review of Good Bones off Broadway, a new play at The Public Theater written by James Ijames, the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner for Fat Ham.
For spouses Aisha and Travis, a charming historic home in Aisha’s hometown offers the ideal renovation opportunity when the couple relocate for her new job. The home has good bones — a solid foundation, sound framing, and long-term durability. Likewise, James Ijames’s Good Bones, directed by Saheem Ali, has the framework of a great new play, with nuanced characters and a charged conflict.
Unlike Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Fat Ham (produced, like Good Bones, at The Public Theater), the conflict here is more of a slow burn than a fiery sear. The challenges of a renovation project, from selecting paint colors to cabinet hardware, can strain even the strongest marriages. Aisha (Susan Kelechi Watson) and Travis (Mamoudou Athie) radiate the excitement of hopeful parents and overwhelmed homeowners navigating stressful jobs while settling into a new community.
Khris Davis gives a memorable performance as the contractor Earl, who admires Aisha and Travis for restoring the house to its former glory, especially since Aisha grew up in the very projects he did. Earl changes his tune when he learns Aisha is behind a project that will will displace families and longtime businesses. Aisha refers to her scale model of the project as a jewel, and Earl calls it “The Death Star.” Davis performs Earl with alacrity, then shifts to a smoldering intensity as he holds tight to his convictions about preserving the community.
Ijames brings a new lens to gentrification through the disruptive construction of a major sports arena, a hot-button topic: Sports arenas such as SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, have sparked debate about whether the impact on communities outweighs the economic potential.
Perhaps the strongest bone in the production is Maruti Evans's set. It’s a color-drenched, grayish-lavender dining room and kitchen featuring ceiling medallions and elegant lighting fixtures. The set tells a story of its own. As the play begins, it is covered with plastic dust coverings, and as the finishing touches of the kitchen come into view and the translucent walls come down, the characters take on more layers.
Under the direction of Ali, the intermissionless one-act moves swiftly with an underlying spook factor, played out with mysteriously moving props and an eerie soundscape (sound designer Fan Zhang). The house with good bones, and the characters in it, hold some intriguing personal histories.
Good Bones summary
When a new community partnership job brings Aisha back to her blighted hometown, she and her husband Travis, a chef, set out to renovate a historic home and open a new restaurant. The couple’s contractor, Earl, sparks a debate with Aisha after he learns she’s on the planning team for the new sports complex that’s displacing residents and closing local businesses. Aisha and Earl, both raised in the projects, debate what’s best for their community: preserving its history or revitalizing its future.
What to expect at Good Bones
Good Bones runs 1 hour and 50 minutes, with no intermission. The show takes place in the Public Theater’s Martinson Hall space on the third floor — give yourself enough time to walk up three flights or wait for the elevator access to the theatre. The show includes supernatural elements, such as doors unlocking on their own and objects mysteriously falling. One scene depicts flashing lights.
What audiences are saying about Good Bones
On the review aggregator site Show-Score, Good Bones has a 71% audience approval rating as of publication.
- “See it if you like hyper realistic plays with a tiny, comedic sprinkle of supernatural. My favorite work of James Ijames so far. Very familiar, realistic topics and situations of gentrification, complacency, and what it means to belong.” - Show-Score user Alina 1322
- “Doesn’t quite deliver a punch that it seems to want to.” - Show-Score user JKJK
- “Not remotely at level of [Ijames's] Pulitzer Prize-winning Fat Ham. Essentially a debate about gentrification of a poor, black neighborhood vs. destruction of the community, tho little is new here. Features good ensemble & canny portrayal of troubled couple. However, characters are largely stand-ins for positions. 1 hr 50 min play did not grab me until the last 30 minutes when humor, used so effectively in Fat Ham, elevates the debate.” Show-Score user Bruce 6
- “That was so-so.” - a nearby theatregoer at curtain call
Read more audience reviews of Good Bones on Show-Score.
Who should see Good Bones
- Theatregoers who enjoyed Fat Ham, another James Ijames play produced at the Public Theater, would be interested by his latest work. The Pulitzer-Prize winning play transferred to Broadway and received five Tony Award nominations.
- Fans of NBC’s This Is Us will be excited to see Susan Kelechi Watson, lauded for her portrayal of Beth Pearson on the award-winning drama.
- New play buffs will see a New York-premiere work at Good Bones.
Learn more about Good Bones
Good Bones brings a fresh coat of paint and perspective to the ongoing discussion of gentrification and the impact sprawling developments have on tight-knit communities.
Photo credit: Good Bones off Broadway. (Photos by Joan Marcus)
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