Mile Square Theatre Unleashes God of Carnage

In the play God of Carnage, the prim mother of a son battered in a playground fight has an epiphany. “Behaving well gets you nowhere, courtesy is a waste of time,” she says.

Audiences can hear all about the fight beginning this Thursday as the Mile Square Theatre opens its fall season with a three week run of the comedic stage drama.

The play pits two successful city-dwelling couples, the Raleighs and the Novaks, who meet in the Novaks' home after the Raleighs' 11 year-old son Benjamin hits his classmate Henry Novak with a stick and knocks out two front teeth.

The couples try to settle the matter cordially, but as they discuss the details of the fight they find that they have major differences of opinion about raising children and punishing bad behavior. The parents have their own flaws too, including suffering through contentious marriages. The characters soon begin to argue along ever shifting fronts. At different times husband and wife are allied against the other couple, husband and wife fight between themselves, and the men clash with the women.

The characters learn about themselves in the process. According to director Chris O'Connor, the play is about “how we find ways to mask our true selves with each other.”

The play, translated from the French original written by Yasmina Reza, relies on the characters showing their depth through sharp exchanges of dialogue, and also through telling facial expressions. O'Connor said that even in moments of silence the characters are connected by the way they look at each other.

All four of the actors in the play are stage veterans. Charlie Kevin, whose character Michael Novak, a salesman who comes to relish his neanderthal impulses, recently toured in the Broadway production of Take Me Out. Patricia Buckley, who plays his uptight wife Veronica, an author and art-lover, was featured in Flesh and Blood at the New York Theatre Workshop.

The Novaks cross paths with Alan Raleigh, a smug lawyer who believes in the “God of Carnage,” played by Mile Square Theatre associate artistic director Matthew Lawler, and Annette Raleigh, a timid woman who grows bolder, played by Mile Square Theatre company member Annie McAdams. Offstage McAdams is married to O'Connor.

O'Connor said he first saw God of Carnage during its initial Broadway run in 2009 which starred James Gandolfini, Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis. O'Connor said he thought that Hoboken audiences could relate to the story, especially parents who have found themselves in similar disputes involving unruly children.

“It has a lot of issues that would resonate,” O'Connor said. As a parent himself, O'Connor said he too is familiar with the problem of reconciling differing parenting styles. “It's exactly what we're all talking about,” he said.

Yet audience members don't need to have parenting experience to relate to the characters, they just need to know the feeling of being in an argument and thinking that the other side is totally wrong. But the play is such a roller-coaster that audience members might find that the character they agree with most at the beginning isn't the same one they favor at the end.

To find out whether or not the Raleighs and the Novaks resolve their differences, you can attend one of the Mile Square Theatre's performances of God of Carnage. The company will stage 8pm showings at its stage in the Monroe Center for the Arts every Thursday through Saturday from October 06 until October 23, with a 3pm matinee on Saturdays and Sundays. Child psychologists and counselors will conduct post-show discussions on the 06, 08, 09, 13 and 15th dates. For ticket information visit the Mile Square Theatre website.