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French playwright Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage is a relatively new play, having debuted a little over two years ago in Zurich, and opening in Paris and London shortly after. The play stars household name Richard E. Grant alongside Serena Evans (best known as Rowan Atkinson's screen wife in TV comedy The Thin Blue Line), Lia Williams and, for tonight, Greg Wagland.
The entire play is set in the living room of Michel and Veronique Vallon (Williams and Wagland). Their son has been attacked by another boy, and they have invited the boy's parents, Alaine and Annette Reille (Grant and Evans) over to discuss a way of confronting the problem that has caused the fight between their children. It is clear from early on that the idea is Veronique's; her husband is supportive, but Veronique displays all the touchy-feely liberal sentiment of wanting to embrace the problem in a mature and reasonable way that makes us suspect this is really her idea. The Reilles, on the other hand, are clearly there under duress; Annette tolerant and willing to cooperate, while Alaine has no qualms about displaying his impatience with the matter, and his belief that it is all a waste of time.
What follows is an hour and a half long discussion between the four of them, which is ostensibly always about the same subject (the problem between their sons), but actually ends up revealing more about themselves as people, their relationships with each other, and their places in the world, than it ever does about their offspring.
The gloves come off after Annette throws up in the living room, spoiling some of Veronique's art history books. As Annette and Alaine go to the bathroom to clean themselves up, the Vallons, thinking they are alone, are overheard by Alaine admitting to each other what they really think of the Reilles as people, and as parents. This, compounded by the constant annoyance of Alaine taking calls on his mobile phone about a legal case he is working on, leads to the fraying of tempers and the doling out of home truths.
The genius of this play is in its mundanity. The discussion never really departs from workaday issues, and yet in the course of it, the lives, personalities and emotions of the characters are revealed. Veronique is desperate to find meaning in her life, writing books about war-torn regions of Africa and trying to be 'a good person', to be mature and reasonable with everyone and everything. Her involvement in the quarrel between their sons is part of this life philosophy, yet we soon see how thin a veil this is, for when this approach doesn't get her her own way, she soon resorts to the pettiness displayed by the rest of us. Michel, meanwhile, as he begins to snipe and be sniped at by his wife, reveals himself to be bitter, resentful, and deeply unhappy, both in his marriage and with his life in general. It has become apparent to him that the things he believed every man should strive for - a wife and children - are the very things that now make him miserable, but from which there is no escape. For Michel, misery in life is inevitable.
To some extent, Alaine seems to have life more sussed than anyone, doing no more than his duty as a husband and father, and beyond that, being utterly selfish and wrapped up in his work. At least he is not striving to find a meaning to life which may never be there. That is, until his wife throws his mobile phone into a vase full of water, and he breaks down completely in a childish tantrum, showing us that apparent contentment with oneself is all too fragile. Disappointingly for western civilisation, Alaine and Annette appear to come off as the happier couple; happier because they have accepted that life is a sham, and that death soon puts an end to it, and so it shouldn't be taken too seriously. Conversely, it is the very fact that Michel and Veronique feel that life should have meaning, and that happiness should be found in that meaning, that makes them so utterly miserable and detestable to each other, for you will inevitably come to detest those who contribute to, and share in, your misery.
As a piece of work, God of Carnage is brilliantly written, acted, and directed, and is hilarious throughout. When acting is good, you are aware of an actor convincingly portraying a character. When the acting is brilliant, the actor doesn't exist, and you are only aware of the character. Such is the acting by all four on stage this evening. At the end of the play, with all four characters drunk and having torn each other to shreds, as the action ends, a few seconds of distant African music wafts across from the speakers. A reference to Veronique's African connection, certainly, but it also provides a chilling juxtaposition of worlds. While here in the 'developed' west we are all desperately searching for a meaning to our lives, becoming devastated and miserable when we find none, and destroying each other in the process, in Africa, where finding food and water each day, and avoiding being killed in the crossfire of war, is enough to be thankful for, these pathetically mundane problems don't exist. |
Art and Soul
