Bone China - Literary Analysis

K. Alexa Mavromatis’ one act play “Bone China” is about two sisters in their late twenties who are going through past belongings that their late mother kept in the attic. Between humorous sisterly banter, it is revealed that not only have the sisters lost their mother but the older sister, who is a wife and a mother of a young child, is also dying and has a short timeline left to live. “Bone China” is both objectively and in my own opinion a good one act play.

David Ives, a master playwright and drama critic, developed his own criteria for evaluating a good one act play in his essay “David Ives on the One Act Play.” He believes that in general a good one act play has a minimal set with a small cast. The story is not short but is compressed in time and story so that it does not drag on longer than necessary. The most important of his requisites is that the play must take on subjects of loss, deprivation, mortality, loneliness, and other related themes. He also values a play that has an ambiguous or painful ending that leaves a lasting impression in the reader or audience members’ mind.

For the most part, I agree with Ives’ criteria of what makes a good one act play. I enjoy compressed pieces that do not include any unnecessary plots or dialogue. I believe the key to a good one act play is that it must be well-paced. A good one act should almost leave a reader or audience member wanting more. I also value human truth in a one act like the way Ives values mortality. I don’t believe that every play must be sad and painful but there should always be an element of human truth. This element leads to the play lingering in one’s memory long after it concludes, which I value just as much as Ives. The best plays hit the reader or audience member with truth like a punch in the gut. As Ives puts it, “a one-act play is an exploding rose in the hand of a lone assassin” (23).

The primary element in “Bone China” that fulfills David Ives’ and my criteria for a good one act is the theme of mortality, loss, and loneliness. I particularly like that these heavy topics are dealt with by the characters while doing something as simple and mundane as sorting through old toys in the attic of their childhood home. The first hint of loss is the use of past tense verbs when discussing their mother. Mary says, “You know I loved Mom,” and after a slight pause continues on to say, “I can’t believe that was two years ago” (Mavromatis 337). Her older sister Lainie responds with, “Yeah. I’m really glad you’ve been able to be here with Dad. […] It’s been hard for him,” which addresses the loss felt by their father (Mavromatis 337). Then, within a few more lines, it is revealed that Lainie is sick and must confront her own mortality, turning the emotions in the play more internal and personal. There are two punches to the gut in this play for me both spoken by Lainie in reflection of her impending death. When comparing her mother’s death to her own, she says, “It’s weird. I mean we lost Mom, and we didn’t plan for it. We couldn’t plan for it – a drunk guy crossed over the center line and that was it. Now, we get to plan” (Mavromatis 339). In her reflection on the many forms death takes – accident or planned, sudden or drawn out – we learn more about Lainie’s condition as she chooses to reveal it. The second reality moment is when we learn that cancer is what is killing Lainie. She says, “My tumor – the one with the long-ass name I still can’t pronounce right – can take three to five years to grow to the size it was when they removed it. That means I had it when I was pregnant with Sarah. I was growing life and death at the same time. Crazy huh?” (Mavromatis 340). This reflection acknowledges that life and death are truly not as different as many want to believe. Both can be grown, and both are inevitable. They cannot exist without each other. Life needs death to be life, and death needs life to be death.

David Ives would also appreciate that the cast is only comprised of two characters and that the play is compressed so there is no feeling of the story dragging on longer than necessary. A concise story is top of my list of criteria when it comes to evaluating one act plays. I also find this play lingers for me in the way Ives enjoys. I can relate to being the older of two sisters, and I am sure that one day I will be in this exact situation sorting through old belongings with my sister after our mom’s death and potentially having to face our own mortality as human beings.

I can see people not liking this play because of a few different elements. The ending is ambiguous in nature and does not resolve the problem of the character’s mortality. There is not a happily ever after like some people appreciate. There is also minimal action throughout the play, which may be a turn off for some readers or audience members. The one element that I believe Ives may take issue with is the scenery. For this play to be realistic, the set needs to be in the appearance of an attic cluttered with childhood belongings, a far cry from the minimalistic set of Ives’ own one act “Sure Thing.”

Ives’ criteria is better for judging the quality of one act plays than alternative criteria because his is very distinguished from what one would expect from a full-length. A one act is not a shortened full-length but rather a condensed, short play that tells a full story in its own right. In the case of “Bone China,” a full story of a snapshot in time for two sisters as they grapple with the morality both behind them and ahead of them.

Works Cited

Ives, David. “David Ives on the One Act Play.” Dramatist, vol. 8, no. 4, 2006, pp. 22-23.

Mavromatis, K. Alexa. “Bone China.” Creative Writing: For Genres in Brief, 3rd Edition. Edited by David Starkey. Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2017. pp. 336-342.