*Explicit Theatre Advisory*
Though it may sound like a war drama, it's actually a comedy that gets its regional premier this week at Playhouse on the Square. Written by French playwright Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton, God of Carnage won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2009. It’s the script that became the screenplay for the feature film Carnage (2011) starring Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, and Christoph Waltz.
The premise is that two couples whose eleven-year-old sons have gotten into a fight at a playground meet to discuss how they’ll handle the injuries. The tension and the comedy come from the combination of the very different personalities in the room: the society wife who barely knows herself because of the social role that she must play, the realist who is so absorbed with his work that he must take phone calls at even the most inappropriate times, the social crusader who wants to believe in the best in everyone, and her husband whose masculinity pops up to embarrass her from time to time, but he’s just being honest.
They all start off trying to be polite but can’t help but push each other’s buttons since they each have their own perspective on the situation and they each believe themselves to be right. They start to drink and the masks of civility drop. The truth that none of them are as good or right as they think, works its way out in unattractive and entertaining ways. As the New York Times said about the Broadway production, “Never underestimate the pleasure of watching really good actors behaving terribly.”
Playhouse on the Square’s production features Michael Gravois (The Drowsy Chaperone; August: Osage County) Kim Justis (The Rabbit Hole; August Osage County); Barclay Roberts (Dividing the Estate; How I Learned to Drive), and Erin Shelton (Crumbs from the Table of Joy) under the direction of Irene Crist (From Up Here).
As the couples verbally and almost physically destroy each other, the audience is forced to laugh at themselves and just admit that when pushed, the child within all of us will surface. God of Carnage runs March 16- April 1 at Playhouse on the Square. Opening weekend tickets are $20. The Pay-What-You-Can performance is on March 22nd. Visit playhouseonthesquare.org or call 901-726-4656 for tickets and schedule.
