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In Bone China we have a play that deals with two sisters in the attic of their childhood homes. The play deals with serious matters such as death and one sister giving up her life, basically, to be with their dad after their mother was hit and killed by a drunk driver. Mary and Lainie reminisce as they are going through childhood items with a pile of labeled as go and the other is keep. Bone china is referred to as the best and hardest china to play with. This represents their relationship although some are missing or broken symbolizing some fissures. Lainie is dying from a tumor that started to develop at the same time she gave birth to her daughter. Lainie then accuses Marie of making out with her boyfriend while she was off to college. It's ironic that the door to the attic closes making them clear up things. The light at the end of the tunnel seems to be that in a family where communication is lacking and where relationships have been non-existent death of a family member can bring a family back together.
ReplyDeleteSpiro Zagouris
Bone China is about two sisters reminiscing their childhood. We come to know that the older sister has cancer and is expected to die soon. They’re in their family attic going through the different items their mother has kept over the years. Sadly, their mother has died about two years ago and now the oldest child, Lauren, is on borrowed time. This family is going through some grief over their mother and the news over the daughter doesn’t help. Lauren has come to accept that she will not see her own daughter grow up nor grow old with the man she married. One of the lines that stood out to me was “in fact, it kind of makes me mad that it’s what I’m expected to think about now.” This was the response over “do you believe in heaven” that Mary, her sister, had asked. It stood out because I like the charge Lauren takes over her decisions. She’s supposed to somehow discover the light of God now that she knows she’ll die soon. She decided to come to the attic under her own accord to relive the days of her childhood. To see what her mother kept during those years unbeknownst to them. She seems to have accepted her condition, even at times joking about it “I was growing life and death at the same time.” It shows strength in dire times, something a mother is sure to have.
ReplyDelete-Leonardo Torres
“Bone China” was a bittersweet piece that, from the beginning, gave hints into the darker topics it goes into. The introduction of Lainie with a scarf on her head only really gave a few logical reasons for her having it, the main one being hair-loss from cancer. Her tone and dialogue is nostalgic from the beginning, like an old man remembering his long life on his deathbed. The contrast between her mother’s sudden death from a car crash and her imminent, yet slow death shows a duality of mortality that most people refuse to acknowledge. Most people force themselves to think of death as a quick and painless event, but the truth of the matter is that few deaths are as such and most can be filled with suffering. This suffering might even be experienced by those who survive and have to live on with the death of another. Lainie’s optimism about her daughter seems to be mostly to comfort herself, hoping her daughter will not have to remember her mother’s suffering. Throughout the play, she seems to be very accepting of her numbered days, and the way she has to comfort her sister seems fake, like a character built specifically to comfort others that have a loved one with a terminal disease.
ReplyDelete-Hubel Gonzalez
This play had so many elements that came together to really bring you into the situation the sisters were dealing with. They had already lost their mother in what appeared to be an auto accident and now one of them, Lainie, seems to be going through a battle with a brain tumor. There are a lot of heavy topics running through this play, but you read the story with ease. You feel the pain and fear these characters face. You understand their grief. This is what makes the title significant to the play. China in general is fragile and precious. It is often put in showcases on display, but bone china is one of the strongest. I found Lainie’s realistic view of what is to come as a sign of strength. Life is fragile, it is precious and hers was possibly ending but she stayed strong like bone china. The relationship between the sisters is strong and Mary appears to have taken on the burden of being the family caregiver. Again, she may be stressed and fragile but she continues on because she knows her family needs her. My own daughter’s name is Sarah, and it struck a chord within me when she was talking about what her daughter would remember about her once she was older. I honestly could not imagine how I would handle being in that situation. I have a friend dealing with tumors right now and deciding on the route she would take and is preparing her family for the worst outcome. She also has two young children. It is a scary thing when you have time to plan or are expecting death. You don’t know when it's coming, it can be fast, it can be slow and painful but you know it's coming. While the content of this play was bleak, I found it heartwarming to see these two sisters bond and share their worries. Things like that are never easy. Over all the play is easy to read, as it feels like it is a fairly modern setting with things we can all relate to. The sisters language is believable and easy to follow. While there does seem to be a lot of shifting in the action, I think it is necessary to make it believable.
ReplyDelete-Carina Pompa
The neat thing about Bone China is just how logical and straight-forward this play is. I think in nearly every sense of this word, this play differs from one like that of Trash Anthem, and yet I find myself appreciating elements from both plays. I do, however, lean towards a preference of Bone China. In this play, I find the dialogue to be incredibly realistic and so much information and inferences can be drawn by the characters' dialogue. Because of this incredibly realistic flowing conversation, it draws the viewer in further, and makes the drama that is tells so much more real, raw, and powerful. Despite the fact that this is a relatively short read (not a full hour+ length play), so much information and story telling was done in a short amount of time, something that over time, I have realized is incredibly difficult to do, specifically to do efficiently while still maintaining a strong connection with the viewer/reader. The story is relatable, and much unlike plays like Trash Anthem, one doesn't need to suspend their belief in order to enjoy it.
ReplyDelete- Hannah Daniel
Bone China by K. Alexa Mavromatis is about two sisters, Mary and Lainie, sitting in an attic going through their old belongings from their childhood. It is later revealed that Lainie is dying from a reoccurring brain tumor. It seems that Lainie is pretty accepting and maybe even a little numb about her prognosis. In the play, she never seems to break down or go on this rampage throwing things across the room and cursing God for ending her short life the you would except a character to do. I did enjoy the play but I did find it a little cliche. I've seen this story several times in hallmark and lifetime movies and all the sappy teen fiction books. It is really heartfelt and touching but maybe I've just seen it so many times that I've just become callused to it. After doing a little digging, I learned that bone china is actually the strongest porcelain ceramic out there so when they find a second china tea cup and put the two together I took that as the sisters symbolic bond and how strong it is/they are. All in all, I was a little bored reading this play. As soon as they reviled Lainies numbered weekends, I already new where it was going.
ReplyDelete-Arianna Martinez
Bone China is about two sisters who are facing some difficult things in their life. As both sisters comes to terms with their moms death, they realize what that means for their life. Mary accepts her responsibility of taking care of her widowed father, instead of living her own free life. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Lainie is suffering from a brain tumor and only has a short time to live. The reference to "bone china" has to do with the tea cup set their mother bought for them as little girls. The set was made from a high quality and is very fragile. The girls reminisce on how they did not know the importance of treating the set with care as children. This is an analogy to how fleeting life is, regardless of the quality. I appreciated this play because of the issues it addressed. Many people go through hardships in life and this short play displayed the thoughts and realities those people may have. I can't imagine what it would be like to have leave a daughter behind a husband that I thought I would grow old with. It's impossible to think and accept that your days are numbered. The same goes for Mary. Her life is bound to taking care of her father. She's young and has her whole life ahead of her, to live freely. All in all, I can definitely predict that just by reading this I was brought to tears. I'd love to see it on a real stage.
ReplyDelete-Cassandra ramos
DeleteBone China has been a really cool read, it mentions something that most of us are really scared about: cancer. I really enjoyed the two characters and the fact that since there’s not a lot of them they have to carry the whole play. In the play the tumor is something that she has already learned to accept, and it must’ve been something that happened fast because brain tumors just burn right through you. I know it’s a fictitious work but the survival rate for a glioblastoma WITH treatment is only a couple of months, while no treatment kills you within a couple of weeks. So moving on, it turns into this play where we learn to accept the fate of things along with the characters. In that way we mirror the stages of grief. I remember that was one of the things that I really enjoyed about writing my fiction piece, I wanted to make an essay that had the audience following along the stages of grief with my protagonist. Ultimately this is a good read and one that appeals to the audiences pathos. It was a super fun read and the last couple of readings have been just as fun. - Jesús Iván González
ReplyDelete“Bone China” by K. Alexa Mavromatics was one of the most emotional reads throughout the whole semester in my opinion. I’ve read many plots similar to this, but these types of stories always seem to get me emotional no matter what. Losing a loved one, such as a mother, can be heart wrenching specially if it is unexpectedly. However, knowing and expecting another loved to pass can almost be soul crushing because there is nothing that can be done at this point. You’re just living day by day praying that you have an extra day with that person. It is an extremely unfortunate situation that this family is in. It’s very difficult to imagine anything like this happening to me. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone, but it is something that many people go through. Death is unavoidable.
ReplyDeleteI have to be honest, I was confused on why the china was so important. I know that they claimed that it was “really good” and the “strongest” type of china, but yet I still found it confusing. I couldn’t seem to make a connection between the china and the sisters. The dialogue of this story was really realistic. It was a very heart-warming play, and it makes you grateful for the family you still have in your life.
Angela Milan
This play was really interesting read. "Bone China" by Alexa Mavromatis made me feel happy but sad at the same time. I have an older sister and I love spending time with her, even if we aren't really doing anything, just being together makes me feel happy which is how I felt when the two sisters were going through their stuff. It made me feel happy for them that they were able to have that quality time together. At the same time it made me feel sad since one of the sisters had an illness that would eventually lead to her death. It was very sad when I read the part that her daughter wouldn't even remember her which is something I hope she ends up being wrong about because every child should always remember their parents, in my opinion, The title didn't really make much sense to me really. Bone China is said to be very strong which maybe can be the bond between the sisters or how strong Lainie is since she's going through something horrible, I'm not really sure. It was cool seeing all the stage directions also. There was so much movement and I could picture the attic and all the boxes and stuff on the floor and it was funny when they got stuck since the door closed. Stuff like that is what makes a bond grow, going through things that we're not planned.
ReplyDelete-Rebecca Muniz
Bone China was a very thoughtful play, it included deep emotions between two sisters losing their mother and a difficult life that came upon their lives after their mother’s death. Mary and Lainie were two sisters who were destined to live their life until the tragedy of her mother, it left Mary with the responsibility of taking care of her widowed father and decided to love life different from how it was supposed to happen. It wasn’t so great for Lainie either since she had a brain tumor and had her days counted to death. This play was hard to take in, in the sense that it was very emotional and difficult to accept with the girls had to go through after the death of their own mother. This play to me was an example of different life situations people have in the real world. It made me think of the small things I’d get stressed about in my life but when in realty they were small and there are other people who have bigger problems in their life and we need to be more appreciative of life. This play was great to read and was a good example about how a life of two sister can change dramatically from what they had planned.
ReplyDelete-Karla Romero
Bone China by K. Alexa Mavromatis is about two sisters Mary and Laine. It is a really sad story because in the play there is the theme of life and death unexpected death and long term sickness death. I feel like the choice of figuring out which is a better situation is very difficult. Either way be it one is prepared for death or not is something that affects everyone around one self and it is difficult to deal with when your are leaving loved ones behind. I think that it is very interesting the theme of the story and I really enjoyed how the dialogue opened up for a lot of feelings and depth to the story. The relationship between Mary and Laine is very dynamic and every element of the story is well used even if the end is not happy as it is not meant to be.- Maria Ramirez Montoya
ReplyDeleteThe play “Bone China” by K. Alexa Mavromatis incorporates two characters, two sisters. These two sisters, Mary (twenty-seven), and Lainie (twenty-nine, she is also sick of cancer) are in the attic looking through old stuff such as artwork, toys, and all kinds of things they used to play with in their childhood. Lainie was already in the attic when Mary comes, they find a small china teacup which elludes to the name of the play because the teacup belonged to a set of teacups named “Bone China”. As they keep looking and finding different kinds of things, they are remembering some bits of their childhood. At some moment, Mary seems worried that her sister Lainie is spending her weekend looking thorugh things that rememberd her of good times when she was very sick and almost at the verge of death. Then we realize that these sisters have gone through more rough events in their life. Death cannot be evaded, it is a very hard thing that humans have to deal with, and tragedies will also affect badly but those are some things that we cannot avoid. And in this famly, death and tragedy are very abundant, sadly. It is stated that their mom died on a car accident, and their father went through a lot of grief due to this. Now Lainie’s little family (husband and daughter) were going to suffer her loss. One part that was very shocking for me is when Lainie is telling Mary what to tell her daughter when she is long gone. I enjoyed reading this play, it was very touching and emotional, but it was also kind of sad. The reality of this play and the emotional part was what I most enjoyed.
ReplyDeletePaulina Longoria
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ReplyDeleteor
call/whatsapp:+2349057261346
i am ERIC BRUNT by name. Greetings to every one that is reading this testimony. I have been rejected by my wife after three(3) years of marriage just because another Man had a spell on her and she left me and the kid to suffer. one day when i was reading through the web, i saw a post on how this spell caster on this address AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com have help a woman to get back her husband and i gave him a reply to his address and he told me that a man had a spell on my wife and he told me that he will help me and after 3 days that i will have my wife back. i believed him and today i am glad to let you all know that this spell caster have the power to bring lovers back. because i am now happy with my wife. Thanks for helping me Dr Akhere contact him on email: AKHERETEMPLE@gmail.com
or
call/whatsapp:+2349057261346
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ReplyDeleteTRADITIONAL HEALERS IN JOHANNESBURG