Cambridge Arts Theatre – until 8 February 2020
Reviewed by Steph Lott
3***
When tonight’s performance of “God of Carnage”, (written by Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton) finished, my companion and I ran into another friend who had also just seen the play. “That play was just like an evening at home,” she said. “Yes”, my other friend agreed, somewhat ruefully. “One long row!”
The play is set in the front room of a couple Veronica and Michael, played by Elizabeth McGovern and Nigel Lindsay. Their son Henry has had 2 teeth knocked out by his classmate Freddy, whose parents Annette (played by Samantha Spiro) and Alan (played by Simon Paisley Day) have come over to talk about what to do.
From the start the whole situation is deliciously awkward. You very soon start to squirm. Here we have 2 middle class couples whose only reason to be in each other’s company was to talk over the incident and what to do. It’s not initially clear what the outcome is that anyone wants. They can’t even agree over a description over what happened. At the start I thought that Veronica and Michael would be wanting some form of compensation for their son’s cosmetic dentistry and that Alan (being a lawyer!) and Annette would want to wriggle out of admitting liability.
But it wasn’t that at all. Veronica wants an assurance that Freddy understands what he’s done and wonders what kind of apology would be appropriate. At that point is where the cracks in the veneer of politeness begin to appear and we realise that the atmosphere is rapidly changing and deteriorating. Obnoxious lawyer Alan declares that his son is a hooligan and seems very uninterested in either defending or punishing him. Annette is dismayed and then angered by her husband’s disinterest. There is an ornament made of large African spears ominously hanging overhead but they jab at each other just as fiercely and inflict just as much damage without having to use them, especially once the rum has begun to flow and what started as a discussion over a boys’ fight becomes a vicious adult war.
It would be easy for this play to become tedious as essentially, as I mentioned at the start, it is one long row. But it doesn’t, due to the sharply observed dialogue, the fast pace of the play and some great comic timing.
There isn’t a great deal of depth to the characters – there isn’t time. But there is wonderful destructive energy between and across the 2 couples. By the end, you hate them all! The descent through their smugness into drunken vicious outbursts is very funny and simultaneously awful.
I guffawed a great deal and found it an enjoyable performance. I especially enjoyed how monstrous they all became once the gloves came off. My favourite was Nigel Lindsay in his role as Michael as he revealed just how boorish and awful he was.
The play isn’t particularly “deep” – it’s too fast, slick and full of vitriol for that and I’m not sure any deeper message other than “people can be awful” comes over. It doesn’t really have time to analyse why. It’s a fun evening though.