The world premiere of Javon Johnson’s “Hambone” on Monday was a precious evening of great theatrical cheer. This is the work of a new, exciting scribe with so much verve, talent and natural craft that the writer’s creative energy seemed to be spilling off the venerable Victory Gardens stage in lumbering emotional waves.
And to make the situation more exciting, this fellow not only lives in Chicago but is hooked up with the Congo Square Theatre Company, a youthful and emerging African-American theater group that has displayed enormous promise.
If these folks get the financial and audience support they deserve, the potential for enriching mutual work of great substance seems boundless. And in a city that has, unaccountably, failed to include and/or nurture an African-American troupe in its downtown theater district, such developments are vital to Chicago’s cultural future.
That said, “Hambone” falls apart completely in the second act.
But even as you watch Johnson’s funny, smart, moving and brilliantly observed character study eventually dissolve into a hyperbolic, macho mishmash of ideas, symbols, crises and overblown poeticism, you find yourself quickly forgiving the flaws.
This is because “Hambone” is an excellent young person’s play. In its desperation to make a creative mark and pay homage to the author’s numerous mentors, it attempts too much. Even though it was workshopped at the Sundance Theatre Lab (and helped by a Columbia College award), “Hambone” still needs a reality check and a lot more work, starting with a more explicit sense of its southern environment and its 1980s setting.
But no one can reasonably fault an emerging playwright for being overly ambitious. And even if you wince a time or two when Johnson’s characters start yakking about cold winds blowing or uttering absurdly portentous lines like “We all have secrets,” this is still a gripping, intelligent and entertaining play. Johnson takes risky stances on issues of race and community and finds a fresh and vibrant take.
Since the poetic piece is set in a sleepy diner in a black community and consists mainly of fractured family revelations provoked through violent and heart-wrenching encounters between estranged relatives known and unknown, comparisons with August Wilson are inevitable.
Johnson is not close to that level. But whereas Wilson tends to shy away from including the voices of young, college-age black men, Johnson’s best scenes take place between two young fellows, fighting against racism and trying to find their way. Boosted by terrific performances from Anthony Fleming III and Francois Battiste, these vibrant encounters ring with truth.
The older characters, played by Freeman Coffey Jr. and A.C. Smith, rely more on archetype. But the actors help fill in the humanity, with Smith offering a broad but crowd-pleasing turn as a bitter but droll ex-football player.
Into this mix Johnson sticks an old, sad white man (played with extraordinary empathy by Tom Roland). For most of the play, we don’t know why he’s come to the diner, but his presence confounds expectations and adds fascinating levels of racial and dramatic tension.
Ron OJ Parson gives this work his considerable directorial best and there’s a splendid setting from Mary Griswold. All, it feels, rightly sense they may be working with this playwright again.
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“Hambone”
When: Through Feb. 25
Where: Victory Gardens Theater, 2257 N. Lincoln Ave.
Phone: 773-871-3000
