God of Carnage
Yasmina Reza
The Pear Theatre
“Smiling faces sometimes
Pretend to be your friend;
Smiling faces show no traces
Of the evil that lurks within.”
Entering The Pear Theatre’s intimate setting where a comfy living room with multiple artsy touches greets us (Louis Stone-Collonge, set designer), we are serenaded by the 1971 Motown hit, “Smiling Faces Sometimes.” That “smiling faces sometimes … don’t tell truth” is an understatement to what we are about to witness as two sets of ‘helicopter’ parents soon become outright ‘fighter-jets’ in battle in Yasmina Reza’s dark-and oft-hilarious comedy, God of Carnage.
Zooming in to try to settle matters after a playground altercation of their eleven-year-old sons (rather than leaving it to the kids themselves), what starts as a overly polite peace treaty negotiation soon becomes out-right war with constant shifts of who is the real enemy. The Pear ends its 24th season with a sharply pointed jab at educated, middle-class people who want to appear civil and civilized but who have lurking just under the surface a primal, savage instinct that soon overtakes social etiquette and rational thought, the God of Carnage in us all.
Please continue to Talkin’Broadway for the rest of my review.
Rating: 3.5 E
God of Carnage continues through June 28, 2026 in a ninety-minute (no intermission) production by The Pear Theatre, 1110 La Avenida, Suite A, Mountain View, CA. Tickets are available at https://www.thepear.org/.
Photo Credit: Sara Kannen Dean
Leave a Reply