God of Carnage

One 11-year-old boy has hit another in the face with a branch, knocking out the victim’s teeth. Like civilized adults, the parents meet to try to agree on an appropriate outcome, but there’s nothing quite like a good spray of vomit to warp the thin veneer of polite society. Yasmina Reza’s glorious creation God of Carnage is all about keeping cordial while trying to repress a boiling mud geyser of emotion. That undercurrent of unspoken feeling keeps bulging out until finally it erupts to riotous effect.

It’s fantastic to see that Echo Theatre has revived their production God of Carnage, this time with a slightly different line up. This revamp features some of the Canberra region’s finest comic actors, and they are having a hoot playing these awful characters. Jim Adamik is wonderfully cast as Alan. His booming voice and huge stage presence suits Alan, whom he plays as a bombastic, arrogant, amoral selfish bigot. Alan sees it as his right as a man to bully his wife Annette. Lanie Hart portrays Annette initially as a people pleaser, trying to mediate between her oafish husband and the other couple. Ms Hart portrays Annette as  almost crippled with anxiety, which makes her eventual disinhibition particularly gratifying (and hilarious).

The other parents have the opposite power dynamic. Jenna Robert’s Veronica is a wonderful parody of self-righteous, holier-than-though types whose strict morality is primarily for show. Her tone is just that little bit too nice, but she can’t resist letting the odd verbal barb find its mark. She keeps everything in her home—the aesthetics, the artworks, and as far as possible her husband Michael—under absolute control. Arran McKenna’s browbeaten Michael seems to be relatively happy to play second fiddle, until the pressure builds enough for his inner chest-beating thug to break through.

The success of this show depends heavily on how well it carries subtext, and this they do brilliantly. From awkward silences, to meaningful glances, lines delivered like a knife wrapped in sheepskin with perfect timing, every pause pregnant, every glare withering. The madness builds to a chaotic crescendo which will leave you doubled over in laughter. Couple this with the gorgeous set with an exceptionally tasteful Eames-inspired table and a mid-century lounge suite, and opening with that wonderfully ironic classical piece that represents everything that is supposed to be tasteful and refined, Boccherini’s String Quintet in E, and it all adds up to a perfect set piece comedy.

After a short reprise in Queanbeyan Echo Theatre’s God of Carnage will be hitting the road so audiences around the country will have the opportunity to experience this wonderful lunacy. If you like your satire cutting and laced with catharsis and schadenfreude, you’ll love it.

Cathy Bannister

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Photographer: Ben Appleton.