Cast

Synopsis

After one 11 year old hits another, their parents meet to find a mature solution. As the evening wears on and the veneer of civility degenerates, what begins as protective parenting ends as an excuse to let loose the primordial beast buried in each of us. What happens when two sets of parents meet up to deal with the unruly behaviour of their children? A calm and rational debate between grown-ups about the need to teach kids how to behave properly? Or a hysterical night of name-calling, tantrums and tears before bedtime?
Bringing the social satire of Abigail’s Party, kicking screaming and projectile vomiting into the 21st century, this dark sit-com is equally hilarious and discomforting – as the evening descends into a deluge of accusations, recriminations and floral destruction. Boys will be boys, but the adults are usually worse – much worse.

Directors Notes

Good Evening and thanks for joining us in The Theatre Upstairs. It’s almost 30 years since I first stepped into this room to rehearse Biloxi Blues -a production I still fondly remember as a favourite, learning fast to enjoy the closeness of the little theatre audiences. I was never one to shy away from unsocially distanced theatre – the closer the audience the better! Squeezing a touring production into the only space provided is a challenge that can always be overcome. But then (I thought) ‘God Of Carnage’ should be a simple task in such a space as this, and with such a cast as experienced and celebrated as I have been gifted! Still, there are couple of technical tricks that, at the time of writing, are in the lap of the theatre gods as to how well they might go. With such an experienced and competent stage management team, all will be well by the time you read this, I’m sure the front rows will be safe!

I haven’t attempted to try and throw too much of my own personality at such an excellent little script – Yasmina Reza is so highly regarded, quite rightly, for an adept social awareness and character definition that is second to none. Inspired, and reviving a commission that she’d initially rejected, after hearing the tale of a friend’s child coming home and requiring dental work, Reza rustled God Of Carnage up within a week, the comic darkness of the four characters almost unrestrained by her own inspiration. My own interpretation of the facts these adults seem determined to skirt around and distort, has been brilliantly coloured by the actors’ creative process – work in progress as I type, but certainly heading in the right direction. Unlike the characters themselves, self-destructive, petulant, ignorant and egocentric – is this what humans become as they spend years in the prison of parental responsibility? Or are these just typical but terrible parents? Hysterically unaware and consistent in their inconsistency – I’m confident some of you will recognise yourselves and laugh with revulsion at your own terrible humanity! But then sometimes I ask too much of myself as well as other people. What do I know? What DO we know?