The Santa Maria Civic Theatre is a truly versatile home for the theatre arts on the Central Coast, providing family friendly entertainment as well as contemporary stage plays with more dramatic overtones and adult themes. The Civic Theatre’s current production God of Carnage, by Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton, opens upon an extremely charged and emotional moment that escalates and spirals out of control throughout the course of the 90-minute-long one-act play.
God of Carnage begins and ends all within the living room of Michael and Veronica Novak (Cody Fogh and Lynda Mondragon), who are having a sit-down with Alan and Annette Raleigh (Craig Scott and Sally Buchanan), the parents of the boy who smashed two teeth out of their son’s skull. The tense atmosphere is palpable from the start, even down to the Novaks’ calm demeanor regarding the whole situation, as if everything is perfectly fine even though their son is missing teeth.
The two couples are hammering out a written agreement, how to word the official statement regarding the incident between their children, when Mr. Raleigh objects to the use of the word “armed” in regards to the stick his son used to hit the Novaks’ boy. Mr. Raleigh is a lawyer, as we are often reminded when the he springs up to answer his cell phone amid the most tense situations, and his objection is like the pulling of a thread, and with it he unravels the sweater of civility that the Novaks have woven not only over the situation, but perhaps their entire lives.
The two obviously strong couples battle as teams against each other for a time until unity dissolves, each couple turns on itself, and a battle of the sexes ensues. The inherent drama two different couples express as they argue about their children and their own lives is embraced well by the four actors, but not so much that they neglect the undercurrent of humor rippling throughout the play. The uncomfortable situations and tense exchanges are punctuated by some physical humor and other comic relief, but the overall theme highlights the absurdity of civility and the often tenuous ideas holding back our more animal nature.
Fogh, who plays Michael Novak, jumps into his role well, embodying a man who is being nice in a truly tense way, because he is hiding something deeper. Mr. Novak may be hiding his rage about the situation from the Raleighs, but it seems he is also hiding some rage from his wife. He resents having to act calm, play dress-up, and pretend to be nice. Mondragon’s portrayal of the über politically correct Veronica Novak is the fantastic foil to her brooding husband. Even though she struggles to paint the whole situation in a better light, even as it devolves around her, the moment she becomes unwound reveals a depth of conflict within her character alone.
Buchanan and Scott embody their own characters’ marital and parental conflicts with precision and definition, acting as the caustic influence on the Novaks’ equilibrium. Their conflict reveals shades of patriarchal tradition and brutality. Mr. Raleigh delivers a conflicted monologue in defense of Mr. Novak, naming a “God of Carnage” as the age-old specter that haunts even their living room, which possesses even the most sensitive among them to act inhuman.
The four talented performers bring heaviness and humor into the enjoyable one-act play, but their efforts are certainly supported by stage manager Paul Brown, lights and sound engineer Devin Herrick, set designer and builder Joe Brown, and lighting design by Lisa Luis and Jim Moonier. Catherine Brown directed the production of God of Carnage, bringing the characters forward and embracing their darkness, but not neglecting the hilarity embedded in the short drama. The play does include some adult language, so it’s not recommended for young kids, but a great time is to be had by mature audiences.
Arts Editor Joe Payne doesn’t mind a couple of F bombs. Contact him at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Feb 12-19, 2015.