God of Carnage

I have seen this play before, but I have never seen it started in the way that Chesil did. With a dimly lit stage, the four actors all entered from different corners of the stage, stood for a minute looking in to center stage, then as the lights brightened, they moved to their opening positions and the play began. I’m not sure this worked for me, but the play started with gusto and held my attention throughout.

The play centres on two couples that meet up at the home of Michael and Veronica Novak, played by Marcus Whitfield and Helen Symes, after they had asked Alan and Annette Rayleigh, played by Steve Clark and Sarah-Jane Wareham, to discuss an incident where the Rayleigh’s son had knocked out two of their son’s teeth with a stick.

All four actors were very good and played their parts brilliantly even though each character was different.

Marcus Whitfield (Michael Novak) was very convincing as a man that lives under his wife’s thumb, but keeps daring to voice his own opinions only to conform back to his subservient self under his wife’s icy glare.

Helen Symes (Veronica Novak) seemed a little hesitant in her part for a few minutes right at the very beginning, but soon came romping forward to play the part very convincingly. She was a real know-it-all woman that everyone likes to keep clear of – the type of woman that keeps on top of everything, until Alan and Annette Raleigh come along.

Steve Clark (Alan Raleigh) was the obnoxious lawyer right from his first entrance, his face and body expressions said it all. Always on his mobile, he infuriated everyone in the room, until suddenly his wife snapped with hilarious consequences.

Sarah-Jane Wareham (Annette Raleigh) was wonderful as the under-the-heel wife of the obnoxious lawyer. Such was the pressure of the Raleigh’s visit to the Novak’s, she found the pressure too much making her feel unwell until the rum came out. I have never seen an actor, amateur or professional gradually get drunker and drunker with greater conviction, I was beginning to wonder if she had swapped the prop rum for the real stuff, such was the reality of her slippery slide into drunkenness.

The whole show was very well put together by director Mary Stone. I particularly liked the way she handled where Michael Novak beat his wife. The whole lighting turned to a reddish hue as everyone on stage went into slo-mo mode. The lighting and sound were spot-on thanks to tech team of Peter Vincent, Jonathan Gregory, Jim Glaister and Kirsty White. The costumes were also right on the button thanks to Juliet Hawkes, Lyn Parker and the wardrobe team.

All in all, this was one of the best productions of God Of Carnage that I have seen.

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