Barf, Booze And Bountiful F-Bombs: NFLT's “God Of Carnage”

May 09, 2013

The North Frontenac Little Theatre's "God of Carnage" is not for everyone. But for those wishing to delve beneath the surface of couple-dom, marriage and parenthood to find what dirt might be lurking there, the NFLT's production of Yasmina Reza's play was the ticket. While some regular North Frontenac Little Theatre goers may have been deterred by the first and third words in this play's title, for those who attended its four-show run at Sharbot Lake High School from May 2-5, God of Carnage proved a refreshingly rewarding and highly entertaining night out.

The play appears at first to be a jovial, simple and civil meeting of two respectable couples, Annette and Alan Raleigh (Martina Field and Robert Bell) in the upper class living room of Veronica and Michael Novak (Karen Steele and John Stephen), where the entire play unfolds. But very quickly the dialogue first meanders then dives head first into the uncharted waters of marital resentment, nastiness, and bitter couple-to-couple combat. The play was a serious undertaking for the entire four-member cast, with Reza's unrelenting, rapid fire dialogue never ceasing for a second, which forced the actors to rely on each other's cues more than might be necessary in productions with larger casts. But the small cast definitely rose to that challenge.

The premise for their meeting is a playground altercation between the couples' two 11-year-old sons, whom we never do meet. At first it seems that the Novaks and Raleighs will be able to agree on a plan for their sons' reconciliation but a blame game quickly makes mincemeat of that first initial try. At the door and about to leave, the Raleighs edge back for a second try over clafouti and coffee. The play is clever and much of its comedy lies in the fact that at every turn when a reconciliation seems imminent, bedlam ensues. Adding to the building tension throughout the play are the characters' touching on seemingly unrelated worldly issues and gender-based topics, which in fact demonstrate both couples' faults and flaws.

Reza's gift and what gives the play its momentum is her ability through the dialogue to pull the couples constantly back and forth between the point of resolution and all-out battle. Reza touches on the idea of hypocrisy in Veronica's case, as she curses out Annette after the latter succumbs to her growing nausea, and in what is the first great shock of the play's uncivil decorum, pukes all over Veronica's very expensive coffee table art books.

Later on, the gents insult each other's chosen lines of work, with the cell phone-dependent, high flying, holier than thou corporate Alan finding fault with Michael as a lowly seller of plumbing fixtures. Part of the fun of the play is the ever changing alliances that are struck between the men and women.

On the subject of gender issues, which is focused on more deeply and to great comic effect in the second act of the play, the gals get increasing tipsy and Annette, who is by far the more reserved and submissive of the two ladies (her husband calls her Woof Woof), lets down her guard and in disgust at her husband's incessant cell phone interruptions, grabs it and plunges it into a vase of tulips. Meanwhile the men join forces, finding comradeship in their love of their former childhood gangs. The bossy and demanding Veronica (Karen Steele) demonstrates the tension in their relationship with endless quibbling about trifles like cake recipes. Steele played the chatty and bossy Veronica with deftness, making her desire for control in her marriage and her love of conflict and one upmanship a delight to witness.

John Stephen was likely the most imaginably likeable of the four characters and he played Michael with a veteran actor's naturalness, every line ringing true.

Martina Field's spot on portrayal of the neurotic, timid and finally drunken Annette was highly comedic and her shredding of the lovely tulips near the play's end was a delightful shock to witness.

And last but not least, kudos to first time performer Robert Bell, who created a wholly unlikeable and pompous Alan and whose biggest challenge was managing the multiple cell phone conversations that occurred throughout the play. Kudos also to Kelli Bell, who must have had a great time not only directing her husband but also tackling a very dense and subtle script.

The stage looked sharp and very civil thanks to Donna Larocque and Peter Platenius, who created the sets and Jeff Siamon, who lit it. Those who missed the play can see the movie version of the play, called simply “Carnage”, directed by bad boy Roman Polanski and starring Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christopher Waltz and John C. Reilly.