God of Carnage T3
By Yasmina Reza
Translated by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Christie Vela
Scenic Designer Lauren Wheat
Lighting Designer Tristan Decker
Costume Designer Jessie Wallace
Props Designer Taylor S. Tindal
Sound Designer Noah James Heller
Fight Choreographer David Saldivar
Dramaturge Dante Flores
Stage Manager Lexi Salmon
Production Assistant Kelechi Imoh
Cast
Annette: Lauren LeBlanc
Veronica: Natalie Young
Michael: Ethan Norris
Alan: Mike Schraeder
Understudies
John Broda
Kelly Duncan
My thoughts on God of Carnage at Theatre Three or… just some polite conversation
How prescient Playwright Yasmina Reza was when she wrote God of Carnage in 2008. The events that occur in this play would have been mostly unthinkable then. Now every time I find the courage to watch the evening news or look at a TikTok video, I see supposedly “civilized” people acting as badly as these characters or worse.
Annette and Alan’s son hit Veronica and Michael’s son in the mouth with a stick while on the school playground resulting in two broken teeth. The parents agree to meet and discuss the incident civilly. Things starts off politely, but quickly devolve into an expletive and slur filled shouting match and some action worthy of the WWE.
This play has language and scenes guaranteed to offend just about everyone. It is a challenging, visceral, hold back nothing play. Everything is fair game. Why would anyone want to see a play like this? Because it is also hilariously funny, intense, and gives you food for thought for days afterward.
It does not take long once Annette and Alan arrive at the home of Veronica and Michael for the evening to get ugly. It’s all downhill once Veronica serves her apple and pear clafouti.
Veronica is pretentious, self-important. and considers herself a caring, committed citizen of the world. Natalie Young captures the character perfectly. Her exaggerated gesticulations are spot on for the self-congratulatory character. Young’s Natalie is so irritating that I wanted to slap her. That’s one of the great strengths of Reza’s play, the characters get under your skin as much as they get under each other’s. Truth be told, by the end of the evening I wanted to slap all of them.
Veronica’s husband Michael is a working-class man who sells domestic hardware to support his family. At first, he appears to be a kind, jovial, peace-loving guy. He’s a sort of unpretentious antidote to his wife. However, as his facade begins to fall, we learn that he is apathetic and filled with repressed hostility, especially about his marriage and children. Ethan Norris is terrific playing the rodent phobic, hamster killing Michael.
Mike Schraeder is super as the constantly on the phone, rude lawyer Alan. Alan seems to consider this “meeting” a waste of time and the playground incident just one of those things that happen to boys. He is totally consumed by the pharmaceutical company he represents and keeping its product that has fatal side effects from becoming public knowledge. When Alan is not on the phone, he can be quite witty and he enjoys baiting the other couple, especially Veronica.
Lauren LeBlanc’s Annette was the one character I thought I was going to like. She seems sensible, genuine, and ready to resolve the incident. When the evening starts to deteriorate, the upset Annette vomits violently all over Veronica’s precious art books. LeBlanc pulls off this scene so convincingly that I was bracing myself for the smell. A while later, Annette begins to drink, trades barbs with her husband, destroys a flower arrangement, and calls Veronica’s son a gay slur. Annette’s likability grade: D-. Lauren LeBlanc’s performance grade: A+
Director Christie Vela creates much tension in this one act play. Even from the beginning, there’s an underlying sense of dread. Vela paces and places her actors faultlessly. In one scene, she puts the actors in the four corners of the room, and they become like prize fighters anxious for the bell to ring to begin the next round.
I was riveted to my seat, alternately waiting to laugh or be provoked throughout the intense 90 minutes. There’s even an unexpected ending that has a surprising and effective “Vela touch” in the final moment.
This is one of the most powerful plays I’ve seen in my six years in DFW. Director Vela and her four stellar actors peel back the layers of polite society and reveal the truth about human nature to prove that “laughter and violence are simply different sides of the same coin” and bring a fierce reality to Yasmina Reza’s words.
God of Carnage is thrilling, provocative theater filled with biting humor. If Neil Simon is your favorite playwright or if coarse language offends you, this is not your play. For everyone else this is a must see production.
