God Of Carnage

As one of the characters puts it: “Children consume and fracture our lives” - Indeed, their invisible presence reduces the two sets of parents to hysterical, sulky, projectile vomiting wrecks – in other words, to children at their worst!

This play is an excruciating analysis of that kind of modern parenting which refuses to see faults in its own offspring, and requires others to concur in its own child worship. Yasmina Reza (the plays writer) is not so much touching a nerve as tweaking it!

The set conveyed a realistic living room in a modern home, careful thought had been given to the dressing of the set based on the style of its owner which didn’t go unnoticed - from looking at the set and its props, nothing I saw told us that two young children lived in this home but that’s only a minor observation.

As the play progressed and fury’s grew hotter – so did the lighting, the walls of the living room gradually turned red as the carnage was unleashed – a nice touch!

Anna Sillitoe excelled the ‘hot-head’ quality of her character, Veronique and Paul Reid, as quite the opposite, achieved a believable ‘not particularly bothered’ persona. 
Roberto Lavorini gave us the most natural characterisation of the quartet as the man in the shadow of his wife, Michel and Rani Jackson displayed a frustrated Annette to good effect who lets it all out – literally!

An area where the four actors would have benefited in taking this piece to the next level would be to make a conscious effort to engage in real conversation via the script – I felt we were missing thought processes (which are mightily important when delivering a piece like this), some sideways glances between the couples and awkward pauses would have benefited the action whilst adding an extra layer to the plays humour, such unscripted tweaks in the direction would have aided this modern comedy to deliver a more realistic substance.

Opening night did deliver a few verbal trip ups and miniscule moments of hesitation which I'm certain would have corrected themselves / ironed out as the run progressed.

This play certainly appeals to those who like watching people tear lumps off each other and people who enjoy the blood sport of seeing people disintegrate before their eyes after devouring a bottle of rum!

On paper, it all seems a bit ridiculous and farfetched but as a piece of live action, it was rather amusing!

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