YASMINA REZA / God of Carnage Supported by - Centaur Theatre

YASMINA REZA / God of CarnageZ BACKAny links in the PDF version of this package are live; that is tosay, clicking on them will open a URL directly in your internetbrowser. The page numbers in the Table of Contents also facilitatenavigation directly to specific pages in the document.Live links throughout are BLUE in colourhttp://www.centaurtheatre.com/index.htmlReview package for teachersPrepared for Centaur Theatreby David L. PatersonSupported byCentaur Theatre 1

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YASMINA REZA / God of CarnageZ BACKYasmina RezaBorn in 1959, Yasmina Reza’s parents were both of Jewish origin, her fatherIranian, her mother Hungarian. Reza began her career as an actress, appearingin several new plays as well as standard works from the French classicalrepertoire, most notably Molière and Marivaux.In 1987 she wrote Conversations after a Burial, which won the Molière Award,the French equivalent of the Laurence Olivier Award or the Tony Award, forBest Author. The play was subsequently performed across Europe and SouthAmerica. Following this, she translated Kafka’s The Metamorphosis for RomanPolanski and was nominated for a Molière Award for Best Translationand added A Passage Through Winter and A Man of Chance to the list oforiginal works written. However, it was with ART – performed at Centaur in2001 – that she received international acclaim, winning another Molière. theBritish ‘Best Comedy of the Year’ and Laurence Olivier awards and a TonyAward on Broadway.In September 1997, her first novel, Hammerklavier, was published and anotherwork of fiction, Une Désolation, was published in 2001. Her newly-published2007 work L’Aube le Soir ou la Nuit is a detailed biography of Nicolas Sarkozyas he ran for president of France. Reza was given almost unlimited access toa man she saw as talented and power-driven during the time she followed himon the campaign trail; her book has already caused a sensation in France.In 2008, Reza’s play Le Dieu du Carnage (The God of Carnage), opened inLondon in a translation by Christopher Hampton. The play premiered onBroadway and won Best Play at the 2009 Tony Awards.Christopher HamptonWikipediaSeveral of Yasmina Reza’s plays, including God of Carnage have been translatedinto English by Christopher Hampton. Hampton is a playwright, screenwriter,director and producer. He was the youngest writer ever to have a playstaged in London’s West End, and in the late 1960s, was resident dramatist atthe Royal Court Theatre, London.In 1985 he wrote the play Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Three years later, Hamptonwon the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for his adaptationof that play. He was nominated again in 2007 for adapting Ian McEwan’snovel Atonement, subsequently a successful film starring Keira Knightley andJames McAvoy. In a different sphere, Hampton co-wrote the lyrics for SunsetBoulevard, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical based on the 1950 film of thesame name.Centaur Theatre 4

YASMINA REZA / God of CarnageZ BACK“Elegant, acerbic and entertainingly fueled on pure bile.”Synopsis of the playVarietyA children’s playground altercation, and subsequentdental injury, is the starting point for a discussion betweenfour sophisticated urban professional parentsat the victim’s home. At first, politesse prevails but, asespressos turn to cocktails, opinions are thrown backand forth like barbs, creating tensions that are foughtover like toys. As the gloves come off, social nicetiesfail to forestall the slide of adult banter into a riotousexplosion of suppressed animosity, made funnier by therecognition that, as adults, we still behave like the childrenwe once were.Before the play begins, two 11-year-old children, Benjaminand Henry, get involved in an argument becauseHenry refuses to let Benjamin join his ‘gang’. Benjaminknocks out two of Henry’s teeth with a stick and, as thecurtain rises, the parents of both children are meetingto discuss the matter.Benjamin’s father, Alan, is a lawyer working for a client,a pharmaceutical company, which is seriously implicatedin the marketing of a blood pressure drug which, it isclaimed, has serious side effects. Alan, therefore, is foreveranswering his mobile phone. Benjamin’s mother,Annette, is in “wealth management”.Henry’s father, Michael is a self-made wholesaler ofhousehold goods and toilet fittings, with an unwellmother; Henry’s mother, Veronica, is writing a bookabout Darfur. As the evening goes on, the meeting degenerates,the four getting into irrational arguments farremoved from the initial cause for their being togetherin the first place. Beneath the initial genteel facade ofeach participant lurk sexist and homophobic tendencies,awaiting only the spark of a word or two to ignitespiteful accusations . . .The director of God of Carnage, presented earlier thisyear by Theatre Goodman (Chicago), describes the playin this short video on Theatre Goodman’s web site…List of charactersAll in their fortiesALAN RALEIGH“OK … Oh, and Murray, ask your PR gal to find out ifthis story shows up anywhere else … Call me back!”ANNETTE RALEIGH (Woof-woof to her husband)“Well, if you ask me, everyone’s feeling fine. If youask me, everyone’s feeling better … everyone’s muchcalmer, don’t you think?”MICHAEL NOVAK“Well, you know, it’s never been a bonanza, it waspretty hard when we started. But I’m out there everyday pushing my product, we survive.”VERONICA NOVAK (Ronnie to her husband)“I contributed to a collection on the civilization ofSheba, based on the excavations that were restartedat the end of the Ethiopian-Eritrean war.”http://www.explorethegoodman.org/2010/#GodOfCarnageCentaur Theatre 5

YASMINA REZA / God of CarnageZ BACKSettingGod of Carnage was originally set in Paris. When itmoved to Broadway, the director together with theplaywright changed the setting from a Parisian neighborhoodto Cobble Hill, Brooklyn*. Previously, YasminaReza’s plays had always kept their original setting.The author, however, is very sparing in her descriptionof how the set should look. Accepting the relocation toaffluent middle-class New York, she simply requires…… a living room / no realism / nothing superfluous …The concept of “no realism” places the audience’s focussquarely on the characterizations and dialogue onstage; perhaps, the author wished to allow each viewerto find a location close to his or her own experience– as indeed the language and action dictate. That circumstanceaside, the play in production requires theuse of objects normally found in “a living room” and alist of properties includes the following.Paper, penArt booksTwo vases, filled with tulipsCell phoneNewspaperTray with drinks, clafouti, plates, forks, etc.CoffeeCokeBasins, cloth, spongePerfume bottle Hair dryerBottle of rum, glassesCigar boxPurse with compact, spectacle case with glassesIn other words, a selection of the ordinary essentials ofmiddle class North American urban living . . . !* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobble_Hill,_BrooklynLanguageThe language used in the play is contemporaryEnglish with the occasional use of the ‘F__’ and ‘S__’words. Some terms may require further explanation,depending on the backgrounds of those attending;the following list may indeed be superfluous.DarfurA region in western Sudan which, because of civil war,has been in a state of humanitarian emergency since2003.The LancetOne of the world’s best known, oldest, and mostrespected general medical journals.The Financial TimesAn international business newspaper. It is a morningdaily newspaper published in London and printed in24 cities around the world.Hypertensive beta blockerA class of drugs used for controlling high bloodpressure. In the play, ANTRIL is a fictitious product.Insurance contingencyA financial insurance contract covering risks notnormally covered by general insurance, e.g. fire, flood,tornadoes, dog bites – and, in this case, litigation.ClafoutiA baked French dessert of black cherries arranged in abuttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter.SpartacusA famous leader of the slaves in a major slave uprisingagainst the Roman Republic. In the play, the referenceis to the film(1960) of the same name.Charley’s AuntA farce in three acts written by Brandon Thomas. Itbroke all historic records for plays of any kind, with anoriginal London run of 1,466 performances.WikipediaCentaur Theatre 6

YASMINA REZA / God of CarnageACTIVITIESTeachersLacking a complete script, the following short excerpt from the play can be usedto help students as they undertake the activities on the following pages.Z BACKAn excerpt from the playVERONICA: Let’s stay calm, Annette. Michaeland I are making an effort to be reasonable andmoderate …ANNETTE: Not that moderate.VERONICA: Oh, really? What do you mean?ANNETTE: Moderate on the surface.ALAN: I really have to go, Woof-woof …ANNETTE: All right, go on, be a coward.ALAN: Annette, right now I’m risking my mostimportant client, so this responsible parentroutine …VERONICA: My son has lost two teeth. Twoincisors.ALAN: Yes, yes, I think we all got that.VERONICA: One of them for good.ALAN: He’ll have new ones, we’ll give him newones! Better ones! It’s not as if he burst aneardrum!ANNETTE: We’re making a mistake not to takeinto account the origin of the problem.VERONICA: There’s no origin. There’s just aneleven-your-old child hitting someone. With astick.ALAN: Armed with a stick.MICHAEL: We withdrew that word.ALAN: You withdrew it because we objected to it.MICHAEL: We withdrew it without any protest.ALAN: A word deliberately designed to rule outerror or clumsiness, to rule out childhood.VERONICA: I’m not sure I’m able to take muchmore of this tone of voice.ALAN: You and I have had trouble seeing eye-toeyeright from the start.VERONICA: There’s nothing more infuriatingthan to be attacked for something you yourselfconsider a mistake. The word armed wasinappropriate, so we changed it. Although, if youstick to the strict definition of the word, its use isfar from inaccurate.ANNETTE: Benjamin was insulted and hereacted. If I’m attacked, I defend myself,especially if I find myself alone, confronted by agang.MICHAEL: Puking seems to have perked you up.ANNETTE: Do you have any idea how crude thatsounds?MICHAEL: We all mean well. All four of us,I’m sure. Why let these minor irritants, thesepointless aggravations push us over the edge? …VERONICA: Oh, Michael, that’s enough! Let’sstop beating around the bush. If all we are ismoderate on the surface, let’s forget it.MICHAEL: No, no, I refuse to allow myself toslide down that slope.ALAN: What slope?MICHAEL: The shitty slope those two littlebastards have perched us on! There, I’ve said it!Centaur Theatre 7

YASMINA REZA / God of CarnageACTIVITIES1Read the following short piece of dialoguefrom the play.VERONICA: What about Benjamin?ANNETTE: It’s no use asking his opinion.VERONICA: But it has to come from him.ANNETTE: Benjamin has behaved like a hooligan,we’re not interested in what mood he’s in.VERONICA: If Benjamin is forced to meet Henryin a punitive context, I can’t see the results wouldbe very positive.ALAN: Madam, our son is a savage. To hope forany kind of spontaneous repentance would befanciful. Right, I’m sorry, I have to get back tothe office. You stay, Annette, you’ll tell me what’sdecided, I’m no use whichever way you cut it.Women always think you need a man, you need afather, as if they’d be any help at all.1bZ BACKRevisit the synopsis of the play andthe descriptions of the four characterson Page 5.When casting a play, the director will develop anidea of the type of actor most suited to his interpretationof the text – particularly in a case likeGod of Carnage where the author does not offera very specific description. Reza simply says, “allin their forties.”Having completed Activity #1 at the left, from theselection below and on the next page…… choose one image each for Alan, Annette,Michael and Veronica.1Regarding the exchange between the twowomen…A) what does this tell us of how they think theyshould raise their children?B) Is there a difference between the feelings ofVeronica and Annette in this regard?Benjamin’s father, Alan, seems to hold a differentpoint of view…2C) what does his short speech tell us about hisinvolvement in the upbringing of his son?D) what does it suggest he believes is his role asboth husband and father?The next speech in the play is spoken by Alan’swife, Annette. Having discussed the above, in aspeech of about the same length as Alan’s (above),write what you think Annette’s next words will be.With the help of two friends, perform theentire passage (including your addition) foryour group.3(See next page)4Centaur Theatre 8

YASMINA REZA / God of CarnageACTIVITIESZ BACK1b58 96710One or two of these faces may be familiarto you or they may remind youof a ‘character’ from your own socialbackground. Does this influence yourdecision?While physical appearance is onlyone aspect present during the castingprocess, try to explain what yousee in the portraits of each of yourchosen ‘actors’ which led you tomake your decision. It will also be interestingto examine the consensusof choices within your group.11(Previous page)12Admittedly, the background informationyou have to help you at thisstage is quite limited; however, youmay wish to compare your choices tothe actual cast when you attend Godof Carnage.Centaur Theatre 9

YASMINA REZA / God of CarnageACTIVITIES2When Yasmina Reza wrote God of Carnage, it wasset in Paris (see page 6), with little indication of aspecific ‘arrondissement’. In one Parisian review,it was described as…“… ce décor de type ‘loft bobo minimaliste’.”When the play moved to Broadway in 2009, thesetting was changed to Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.The Cobble Hill district has been described asan “unusually fine 19th century residential area,retaining an aura of the past with its charmingstreets and architecture.”Discuss the following questions.Do you know of an area on Montréal which couldserve as an equivalent to Cobble Hill?Why do you think the decision was made tochoose a community like Cobble Hill?Where, in Montréal, do you think apartments ofthe type ‘loft bobo minimaliste’ could be found?Having thought about the above, does it matterif the playwright is vague about the setting of aplay?Many modern productions of Shakespeare’splays, for example, change the period and settingquite substantially, even where the author, characteristically,has placed the action in a particularhistorical or geographical milieu.Why is it possible for a director to make this decisionwith some texts but not with others?Why would said director feel that it was appropriateor effective to make such a change?2bZ BACKRefer to the outline of the settingand props list on Page 6.The New York Times’ review of the play describedthe set in the following manner…“Working with the designers Mark Thompson (setand costumes) and Hugh Vanstone (lighting), Mr.Warchus (the director) has created an eloquentblend of the chthonic (blood-red background,cracked-mud walls) and the civilized (minimalistfurniture, exquisite vases of tulips).”This is one interpretation of Yasmina Reza’s suggestedstaging, perhaps a middle-class Americanversion of the ‘loft bobo minimaliste’ mentionedat the left.Another approach can be found in the design byEugene Lee for the production mounted by theSeattle Repertory Theatre. This is discussed bythe production’s director, Wilson Milam, in a shortvideo which can be viewed at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCXwYbyvAwCreate a pictorial illustration which will representa multi-faceted view of the elementsof a possible setting.Your illustration should contain most of the elementslisted on page 6 but assembled as a collageor photographic montage.If the resources are available, your project couldbe attempted as a digital presentation or slideshow (Powerpoint, Keynote, etc.), animated withappropriate audio.While off-the-wall, the video clip (viewed on youtubeat the link below) may offer bizarre, even surreal,inspiration!http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UlhhXJlKyYThe video also displays a ‘nightmarish’ record of aGod of Carnage performance!!Centaur Theatre 10

YASMINA REZA / God of CarnageACTIVITIES3“It’s something like Who’s Afraid of VirginiaWoolf performed by the Marx Brothers.”“If Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf had beenwritten by Mel Brooks, it would be God ofCarnage.”The play to which God of Carnage is most oftencompared is Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of VirginiaWoolf? It shares with the Albee play cast sizeand distribution and, superficially at least, has asimilar plot. Both plays deal with the unseen verbaland physical abuse often present ‘behind closeddoors’ in many marriages. The two plays differ inthat God of Carnage is likely to run to ninety minutesor less while Albee’s grueling, acerbic dramausually takes over three hours.One reviewer noted that Reza expected her charactersto be “all in their forties” which, he noted,was the median age range of most theatre-goers.God of Carnage’s success through many productionsaround the world suggests that those “theatre-goers”find the antics of Alan, Annette, Michaeland Veronica, as they tear each other apart,funny and entertaining. Of course, they are ‘onlyacting’; nevertheless…In our lives, from day to day, is it possible tolive without illusion(s)?Discuss whether this should be so – andthen move to a consideration of the otherquestions below.A reviewer for Houston Arts Week suggested thatwatching God of Carnage was similar to someearly lab experiments with mice. The technicianplaces several small dark mice in a sanitized, allwhiteenvironment and then starts doing meanthings to them with the premise that…“… if we administer electric shock, what will themice do? If we apply loud noise, what will theydo? If we start filling the environment with water,what will they do?”Houston Arts WeekZ BACKIs this a plausible metaphor for what we experienceas we watch actors on stage?What is it about the actor’s ‘portrayal’ of lifethat we equate to ‘real’ life?Can ‘stage’ acting be categorized as ‘largerthan life’?Does ‘live’ action on stage have advantagesor disadvantages vis-à-vis acting for film?3bIt will be possible in coming months to make adirect comparison in this last regard when the filmversion by Roman Polanski, simply called Carnage,appears ‘in a movie theatre near you.’Polanski’s latest film, it will open the 49th NewYork Film Festival on September 30th, having alsobeen screened earlier at the Venice Film Festival.It will be generally released by the end of this year.The film stars Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, ChristophWaltz and John C. Reilly.http://thefilmstage.com/news/roman-polanskiscarnage-will-open-the-2011-new-york-film-festival/As a ‘prequel’ to Centaur’s God of Carnage, or ascounterpoint to a viewing of Polanski’s film, theexcellent film version of Who’s Afraid of VirginiaWoolf? – with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton,George Segal and Sandy Dennis – could be considered.For a taste…http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2027095065/Centaur Theatre 11