God of Carnage

God of Carnage

21 July, 2008
by: Joe Harrod

Opening straight into the action in a crisp Parisian apartment which degenerates into a filth, rum and flower-strewn mess by the time the lights go down, Yasmin Reza's long awaited follow up to Art is a laugh-out-loud study in the morality of two couples whose children have been involved in a fight. God of Carnage at the Gielgud is over in a brisk ninety minutes but certainly stays with you.

Our hosts for the evening are the affable, depressive furniture dealer Michel (Ken Stott, The Singing Detective) and his highly strung artistic wife Veronique (Janet McTeer, Sense and Sensibility). They have opened their home to the parents of the other child, bag-of-nerves Annette (Tamsin Grieg, Green Wing) and brilliantly unpleasant lawyer Alan (Ralph Fiennes, Schindler's List etc) in an attempt to defuse the situation and discipline both children. From the outset, Anette and Alan are affronted by the sanctimonious Veronique who refuses to accept that blame for the incident is shared.

Nothing changes in that regard and nothing is resolved in the piece. In fact, the focus of the argument/discussion shifts rapidly into other areas, and one is left with the distinct impression of four (or at least three) egomaniacs, caring about their children, but much more concerned with their own appetites and expectations. It's a quick fire, brilliantly written dialogue piece with four entirely convincing characters.

One of Reza's cleverest devices is the bonding between amoral lawyer Alan (who spends most of the play on his mobile) and uncivilised, self-indulgent depressive Michel. While there's a touch of Men Behaving Badly about their chumminess and humour, Reza entices the audience to like them for their openly selfish natures. You really start to warm to these two, even though they espouse repellent, almost nihilistic philosophies. Meanwhile Veronique, the only character with any moral backbone or belief in civilisation and human warmth, comes across as a prig. In the final reckoning, this attraction to the easy, feckless and amoral suddenly seems very wrong.

The effect of all this is that God of Carnage is a memorable play, not just entertaining, but something you will be glad to have seen. Instinctive cynicism and selfishness are dashingly portrayed but ultimately leave a bad taste in the mouth. None of this is done unsubtly though and there are moments of constructive selfishness which bring cheers from the audience, as when Alan's wife finally stands up to him. It may not be as funny or as well paced as Art, but this is a wonderfully philosophical comedy. If that sounds very French, well, it is extremely French.

Speaking of laughs, there are plenty, along with a reasonable dose of sexual tension and some fantastic living room action, including a sudden and rather brilliantly done bout of vomiting. The characters are perfectly pitched and the actors clearly enjoy themselves immensely – Fiennes in particular is a gleeful and charismatic bastard. Greig seems to specialise in playing skittish, surreally amusing types (Fran in Black Books, Dr Todd in Green Wing) but gives a brilliant account of herself as a serious worried parent in this piece – making her later drunkenness freshly amusing.

At ninety minutes, God of Carnage licks along at a fair old rate but if there's one flaw, it does get a bit repetitive in the final moments. The play is not as full of great quips as Art, but it is extremely funny at times and consistently gripping as you wonder what will happen next. As well as being one of the most entertaining shows to come out in years, God Of Carnage is a subtle morality piece whose lessons are neither simplistic nor signposted.

Very clever and a lot of fun – Reza and the rest of the team have done a great job and, like Art, this show is sure to come back again with different casts and win a huge audience. Which is no reason not to see it now while Fiennes and co are enjoying themselves so richly at the Gielgud.


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Joe Harrod