‘Carnage’ examines human foibles

Chadron State’s Theatre department always picks dark or edgy plays for the Black Box Theatre. These sordid, but often funny shows do more than entertain. They hold up a mirror to the audience and show us things about ourselves and our society that we may otherwise choose to ignore.

This semester’s production of Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage” is no exception. “Carnage” is a transliteration of Reza’s original French play “Le Dieu du carnage” which Americanizes the script and transports the scene to an upscale area of Brooklyn.

Actors Erin Neal, senior of Crawford, James Steele, freshman of Lincoln, Hannah Clark, sophomore of Littleton, Colo., and Michael Kruger, senior of Gordon, bring to life the type of living room comedy that the New York Times places somewhere between television’s “The Honeymooners” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” Edward Albee’s famous drama.

Indeed, “Carnage” runs the gamut between the slapstick mayhem of “Honeymooners” and the high-minded, back and forths of “Woolf.”

“Carnage” revolves around the interactions between two couples. Alan (Kruger), a corporate lawyer, and Annette (Clark), a wealth manager, visit the apartment of Michael (Steele), a wholesaler, and Veronica (Neal), a writer, to discuss how to deal with a quarrel between their sons.

We quickly learn that Alan and Annette’s son Benjamin allegedly hit the other couple’s son Henry with a stick. (The boys never feature on stage.) The play opens with Veronica reading a statement claiming Benjamin was “armed” with a stick. Alan and Annette object to such a loaded term; Veronica suggests “furnished” instead.

Neal’s Veronica is a terrific nag, and a woman after my own heart with her character’s persnickety insistence on using precise and accurate wording. While Veronica’s take on the boys’ schoolyard quarrel is a bit over the top, Neal sells her concern as believable.

Veronica concludes the reading of the statement by remarking that at least the four parents know there’s “such a thing as the art of coexistence.” All the characters nod agreeably, but the story couldn’t be further from artful coexistence. From the first semantic squabble, the fur never stops flying.

What’s unusual about “Carnage” is the play does not stick to its plot’s expected trajectory. As the actors hurl barbed phrases and accusations at one another, alliances dissolve and reform.

Couple argues with couple, the men fall in cahoots against the women, and later the spouses break from their matrimonial alliances, baring the deeper problems in their marriages and finding support from each other’s spouses.

Kruger’s portrayal of Alan is a spot-on disinterested corporate lawyer, taking a call about a serious legal matter every 10 minutes.

The production’s sound designer, HeatherAnn  Hicks, deserves a nod for Alan’s cellphone’s excellently annoying ringtone.

One of Alan’s fiery retorts gives the play its name. Kruger growls, “I believe in the God of Carnage, he’s ruled without interruption since the dawn of time,” in response to the others’ questions of morality and controlling one’s impulses.

Steele’s Michael is a well-matched buddy to Alan despite a few jibes about being a meagre peddler of wholesale goods. Despite being so affable, Michael can’t seem to help siding with his wife every time she puts her foot down.

However, Michael is the real voice of reason in the show (despite what Veronica thinks of herself). He works to pacify his wife and the other couple—a feat Steele sells as genuine rather than conniving.

Rounding out the cast is Clark’s Annette. Clark imbues Annette with an aplomb that seems unshakable—until it is shattered.

Though Annette is the only character who doesn’t join the endless barrage of curse words, she does utter “another f-word” in reference to Henry as the snivelling victim who snitched on her Benjamin. Also, while Annette remains the least vocally outrageous, she has the most violent physical outbursts.

The production’s quartet of actors is a well-matched set who move collectively and individually in seamless transitions between cool and collected ego, to their unrestrained ids.

At one point, Alan says “we’re all neanderthals!” To which Veronica vehemently objects, “I’m standing up for civilization.” The show portrays both sides of this argument without taking a final stance.

“God of Carnage” is definitely one of Chadron State Theatre’s best productions, and a must-see for Chadron’s theatregoers.