| . | 03/29/2009
God of Carnage
By: Victor Gluck
Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, Jeff Daniels and James Gandolfini
in a scene from God of Carnage
(Photo credit: Joan Marcus)
French playwright Yasmina Reza creates situations in which the thin veneer of civilized society rubs off and the caveman mentality rises to the surface. In her two previous Broadway plays, Art and Life x 3, friends meet for a civilized gathering and halfway through the evening a chance remark or event precipitates a free for all that suggests we are just savages under the skin.
Her latest play to reach our shores, God of Carnage is an even more ferocious comedy of bad manners that brings back to the New York stage film and television stars Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden. Under the direction of Matthew Warchus, who has directed four of the five Reza plays seen in New York, this pitch-perfect cast milks the encounter for every nuance and insult that could be possibly imagined after the initial friendly mood deteriorates into recriminations and name-calling. This fourth translation by British playwright Christopher Hampton of a Reza play is astute, polished and up to the minute.
Reza’s original French locale has been reset in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. Two sets of parents, the Novaks and the Raleighs, have met to discuss an incident in the park in which the eleven year old Benjamin Raleigh struck Henry Novak in the face and broke two of his teeth. The parents of the aggressor are Alan, an international lawyer for big corporations, and his wife Annette who is in “wealth management.” Their hosts, the parents of the victim, are Veronica, a writer on Africa who works in an art-history bookshop, and her husband Michael, who owns a wholesale company specializing in household goods. Initially all four are in agreement that the boys should meet and that Benjamin should apologize.
Quite soon, passing remarks suggest that more is boiling under the surface. Alan calls his son a savage. The women discuss an art book on the coffee table and note cruelty and chaos in the paintings of Francis Bacon. Michael admits he used to have a gang when he was growing up. Their language subtly becomes cruder. Then after eating dessert, Annette throws up all over the coffee table hitting some of Veronica’s expensive art books, and the gloves come off. In the aftermath, the four adults turn on each other’s parenting skills, marriages, ethics, and worth as human beings. Through all of this, Alan keeps answering his cell phone which is on vibrate and which is driving his wife crazy. The play ends with an act of revenge we would all like to commit but most of us haven’t the courage.
Aside from the devastating, modern humor, what is additionally fascinating is how quickly the sides change, and not necessarily in the combinations you would have predicted: the men against the women, the women against the men, the couples against each other, Alan siding with Veronica, Annette siding with Michael. The title comes from a remark of Alan’s that he believes “in the god of carnage. He has ruled, uninterruptedly, since the dawn of time.” After seeing this contemporary comedy of bad manners, you are very likely to agree with him.
A more perfect cast could not be imagined. The quartet works well both as married couples and as deadly adversaries. Daniels playing against type is the cut-throat Alan who would probably throw his own mother to the sharks. Beginning as the passive, complacent Michael, Gandolfini, in his first Broadway role since playing “Tony Soprano” in the HBO series, The Sopranos, evolves into a streetwise fighter who adds fuel to the fire. Both Davis and Harden begin as peacemakers but quickly show their true colors as self-righteous women protecting their territory.
The play reunites the creative team that worked with Warchus on the Tony Award winning Art in 1998. Mark Thompson’s set with its blood red rug and walls, white furniture, and stone partition is the perfect arena for the battle that takes place in the Novaks’ living room. His business casual costumes set the right tone for conciliation as the play begins. Hugh Vanstone is responsible for the appropriate lighting, as is Simon Baker and Christopher Cronin for the sound design, and Gary Yershon for the music.
Years from now people will read Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage to see how we lived in this generation. Matthew Warchus’ production gives Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden a chance to quietly shine in each of their roles. Don’t miss this comedy with its devastating humor which dissects the hypocrisies in our society with a scalpel and never misses.
God of Carnage (open run)
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, 242 W. 45th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, call 212-239-6200 or http://www.Telecharge.com
|
|