"God of Carnage" To Open at Southampton Cultural Center

[caption id="attachment_56441" align="alignnone" width="800"] John Leonard and Catherine Maloney in "God of Carnage," which opens this week at the Southampton Cultural Center.[/caption]

By Dawn Watson

By all accounts, “God of Carnage” is a tough play.

It starts amiably enough, though soon it devolves into an odious situation teeming with prejudice, misogyny, homophobia and outright boorish behavior. But despite the insults, name-calling, shouting and full-fledged adult temper tantrums, there’s an undercurrent of humanity, nay even humor, in the action as it unfolds.

Set in a suburban living room, the 90-minute drama written by French playwright Yasmina Reza is a powerhouse play full of emotional buildup and little relief. Despite such difficult subject matter—which unfolds as two sets of parents meet up to enact a plan of action after one child acts violently toward another on the playground—“Carnage” has been a hit since its introduction to American audiences in 2009. In fact, the three-time Tony Award-winner has become the third longest-running play on Broadway, behind only “The 39 Steps” and “August: Osage County.”

Now the dramatic story, trimmed down to approximately 75 minutes, is coming to the Southampton Cultural Center. Directed by Michael Disher, the East End production will star Edward Kassar, John Leonard, Catherine Maloney and Frances Sherman, who will take over the roles that were famously inhabited on Broadway by Jeff Daniels, James Gandolfini, Hope Davis and Marcia Gay Harden. The Southampton production will open on Thursday, October 13, and will stage through Sunday, October 30.

“It's definitely a tough play, to stage and to navigate,” says Mr. Disher of the 2016 season opener. “Probably one of the most difficult I’ve ever directed.”

In the last week of rehearsals leading up to opening night, the actors in the four-person cast have all shown that they have more than risen to the challenge, adds the director.

“I’m very happy that they’ve shown me how they can master coupling the humor and the ludicrous elements with a very marked realism,” he says. “Their portrayals of these characters not only give one pause as to who’s right and who’s wrong but also to seriously reflect on the humanity that’s hiding behind some really murky and ugly subject matter.

Portraying the humanity and the humor through all the awfulness necessitates a very delicate balance, says Mr. Disher. Especially as audience members squirm over the relateability of the characters and their upsetting actions. “It ain’t always easy to do that,” he says of mining some compassion in the midst of such grotesqueries.

What’s so interesting about “Carnage,” and perhaps the reason for its popularity is how quickly it deteriorates from polite gentility to antagonistic hysterics. The reasonable-enough-seeming characters have gathered together to calmly discuss how to move forward after 11-year-old Ferdinard hits his classmate Bruno in the mouth with a stick. Despite immediately agreeing that the “art of coexistence” dictum should be followed, it takes no time at all for the four adults, who are from different social strata, to let their masks slip, revealing what’s private underneath their carefully crafted public façades.

Everything begins to crumble when, moments into the play, one of the male characters decides that his cell phone is more important than the people in front of him. From there, the pressure builds to fever pitch as the respect erodes and the interplay between all four characters disintegrates into personal attacks and full-on battle, which is much more vicious than one kid hitting another with a stick.

In the end, “Carnage” lives up to its name as all comes to ruin. “I’ll wipe my ass with your bill of rights,” one of the female leads screeches at the other.

As brutal as the behavior is, there’s something tremendously cathartic about watching the train wreck happen from a safe distance on the stage, Mr. Disher reports.

“There’s a reason this show has been so successful,” he says. “It might mirror behavior that is despicable and dominating but in the end, there’s definitely something worthwhile—even as it’s cloaked in vileness.”

“God of Carnage” will stage at the Southampton Cultural Center starting on Thursday, October 13, and running through Sunday, October 30. Show times are 7:30 p.m. on Thursdays, 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. on Sundays. Tickets are $22 for adults and $12 for students under 21, with ID required. Dinner/Theatre packages are available for certain performances. Visit for www.scc-arts.org or call (631) 287-4377 for reservations and additional information.