Sunday, March 20, 2011

Review: God of Carnage


By Paul Walsh

There was an air of excitement in the Gate theatre as people took there seats among the packed attendance. The plays director Alan Stanford flitted around nervously among the audience as people prepared to watch a much promoted play from the queen of “big ideas lite” as some critics have unkindly dubbed its writer Yasmina Reza. Miss Reza is a French writer but this particular production was translated to English by Christopher Hampton and has had West End and Broadway productions starring Hollywood heavyweights such as Ralph Fiennes, Jeff Daniels and James Gandolfini. So despite previous critical maulings which Miss Reza has received she can point to the fact that her work has grossed $200m, been translated into 35 languages and attracted some acting heavyweights as those mentioned above. So why the critical hostility? Does popularity equal artistic compromise? An exhibition of Picasso’s work in The Metropolitan Museum of Art attracted 700,000 in 2010 or 6,700 people per day. So great art can also be popular and with this in mind I prepared to embrace “God of Carnage”.

The set which our actors emerge on to can only be described as show house quality. Our four protagonists are meeting in one of the couples homes. The sitting room looks like the ultimate fantasy room of a middle class family yearning to be upper class. It was like something you would of seen profiled in The Irish Times property porn section that was a must have during our Celtic Tiger property bubble period.

This perfectly pristine set designed by Eileen Diss is an appropriate vehicle for the story of two sets of middle-class parents that meet to discuss a dispute between their 11-year-old sons in a civilised manner to enfold upon. While Paul Keogan’s lighting also brings out the almost flawless condition of the home which is Veronica’s and Michaels outward presentation of their perfect family life. Like with most things that appear perfect at first, you don’t have to scratch much below the surface to remove the perfect shine and reveal the grubby dirt underneath. This play touches on a lot of issues but none in any great depth as time and time again it’s the delivery of the next clever one liner or quip that guides the actors and script. The polite meeting of mature adults soon gives way to childish squabbling before all out war erupts, between husband and wife then between the men and the women. Each couple questions the others parenting skills and even holds up their life’s to ridicule or perhaps more accurately the contented life’s they portray to their circle of friends and families. By the end of the play we are pretty sure all the characters are phoney in one way or another even the liberal idealist Veronica played by Donna Dent.

Veronica’s liberalism is held up as a point of ridicule for much of this play. Not for the causes she supports because who could not support justice for the people of Darfur but there seems to be a suggestion that her ideals are woolly and false. Her crime is to on the one hand care about the genocide of Darfur but at the same time be as angry by a bit of vomit staining her beautiful home. One wonders if she worked herself up into as much of a rage when considering the indeed more serious problems of the world. She wants a genuine apology from the son of Alan (Ardal O Hanlon) and Annette (Maura Tierney) for the damage he inflicted on her child. Alan, a lawyer who takes calls mid sentence to assist in a pharmaceutical company cover up, says such an apology is pointless, as the child wouldn't mean it. His opinion is that boys will be boys. Veronica insists the child should mean it and around and around they go as Annette and Veronica's husband Michael (Owen Roe) try to find a middle ground or lighten the mood. Veronica's nagging and Alan's refusal to commit to any opinion eventually lead the characters to boil over and the ensuing blame game rivals anything their respective children could have engaged in for childish foolishness.

The play is amusing and there are some clever lines delivered by some genuinely good comic actors but the 90 minutes spent in the Gate will not linger long in the mind when you emerge into Parnell St and make your way home. Yasmina Reza has complained in the past that her work is played for laughs and this is not her intention, she sees her plays as modern tragedies rather then broad comedies. Well this play is certainly a broad comedy almost more like an old fashioned farce. Characters drink, swear, vomit and a racist term is also thrown into the pot. The use of a racist term which you would assume was designed to shock and show the nasty side of Michael’s character had the Gate audience in tears of laughter. Jim Davidson’s career may not be over after all, he just needs a slot in the Gate. Although I may have spoken to soon Jim Davidson has just written a play called “Stand Up and Be Counted” about a bigoted comedian, maybe we will see him grace the Gates stage after all. Back to the present play occupying the Gate and despite its attempts to tackle serious issues it never has the required emotional depth and despite the protestations of Miss Reiza it’s the writing that fails to sparkle. It is witty and well observed in parts but ridiculing middle class people for the falsity of their existence has been done before many times and with far superior writing. For example Mike Nichols film “The Graduate “which was based on a 1963 book by Charles Webb. If you are going to tackle a theme previously explored by many different writers across many art forms you need to bring something new or even approach from a different angle. The sharp writing of Miss Reiza is as much of a facade as the middle class world she is attempting to satirise. It is all show and no depth.

The performances are good with Donna Dent playing her liberal yet up tight character with well observed comic timing, while Owen Roe, who steals the show for most of the play provides humour but also stretches his acting muscles when his character transforms into a brutish Neanderthal by the plays end. Maura Tierney no doubt was picked for the box office recognition factor; ER after all was one of the biggest TV programmes in the world. Good news was she played an American so at least her accent was not the main focus of her performance. The show I attended was the fourth of the run so maybe nerves played a part but for the first half of the play she seemed completely out of place opposite Dent and Roe who are more natural stage actors and veterans of the Gate. Her nerves seemed to dissipate as the play went on and in the second half she was amusing as a drunk who really shouldn’t drink. Ardal O Hanlon meanwhile was a pleasant surprise. For many of us he will always be Father Dougal McGuire the dim witted priest who could not tell the difference between small plastic cows and ones that are far away but there is no doubt he can deliver a line and has great comic timing. He was really quite believable as the slimy corporate lawyer.

So although there is a lot to criticise about this play credit must also be given to the production values and the pace of direction by Alan Stanford which means you certainly don’t have time to be bored. With solid performances from the cast the play is entertaining rather than inspiring.

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