GOD OF CARNAGE
Play by Yasmina Reza.
Translated from French by Christopher Hampton.
Directed by Daniel Goldstein.
Sets, Dane Laffrey. Lights, Tyler Micoleau. Costumes, Charles Schoonmaker. Sound, Brett R. Jarvis.
Presented by Huntington Theatre Company at Boston University Theatre, through Feb. 5. Tickets start at $25.
God of Carnage indeed.
The verbal carnage waged at this play at the Huntington Theater leaves the battlefield on stage littered with walking wounded, smashed roses, art books, and one soggy cell phone that is a veritable fifth character.
Two couples meet to discuss a fracas between their two pre-teen sons. Their “civil conversation” devolves into a shoot out that is funny, sad, and raw. If their parenting skills are anything like their social skills, we wonder how their kids will reach voting age without requiring therapy for the rest of their lives.
As in French playwright Yasmina Reza’s other play running at the New Repertory Theatre, both "God of Carnage" and "ART" dissect the underpinnings of the relationships of the characters involved. Watching both plays is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. You know there will be wreckage. The only question is will there be any survivors and how will the the experience change their lives.
The Vesuvial emotional outpourings are rip roaringly over the top. They feel like a textbook rendering of the unspoken tensions, withholdings, uneasy truces, compromises, or downright antipathies that underlie outwardly healthy relationships. Think about every petty, snarky, or possibly hurtful thing you’ve ever felt like saying to a significant other and add about 50 decibels.
We are used to watching movies and sitcoms where characters rip each other to the sound of a laugh track. The difference here is that underlying much of the humor is dark stuff, the repressed thoughts that sooner or later will strangle a relationship. In “God of Carnage”, it all comes up unexpectedly, like vomit. Be forewarned.
Michael Novak (Stephen Bogardus),Alan Raleigh (Brooks Ashmanskas),Annette Raleigh (Christy Pusz),Veronica Novak (Johanna Day) T. Charles Erickson photo
This is the kind of explosive theater that could make the disturbances in our own relationships feel less draining. If not, "God of Carnage" would be an excellent jump-start for a couples weekend intended to clear the air.
Veronica Novak (Johanna Day), Michael Novak (Stephen Bogardus), Alan Raleigh (Brooks Ashmanskas), and Annette Raleigh (Christy Pusz) play their roles with gusto. Day and Bogardus are standouts. Reza has said that she writes with her body. Body language, subtle and farcical, is a tool of communication that often rings truer than words in these two plays and the actors are up to the task.
God of Carnage has moments where it runs out of steam, all the more noticeable since so much has been bubbling along for 100 minutes of non stop action. Aside from the cathartic moments, it’s not clear how much this evening’s upheavals will change the essence of the relationships of the two couples.
In both plays, Reza is presenting, not judging. She leaves that up to us.
I saw it and found it to be much as your review characterizes it: lots of energy,anger,excitement and fun.
Posted by: Ray Walther | February 02, 2012 at 01:53 PM
It certainly had all of that, Ray. Glad you and your wife enjoyed it. Hope you get to more plays this year.
Posted by: Paul A. Tamburello, Jr. | February 02, 2012 at 05:56 PM
I heard about this on NPR - wish I had had a chance to see it. Your review makes it sound anything but boring, which is my usual reservation about spending big bucks on theater. Nice job!
Posted by: Susaan Straus | February 10, 2012 at 04:02 PM