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IU Theatre’s
production of God of Carnage,
directed by graduate student Lee Cromwell, showcases the worst in humanity in
the most hilarious of scripts. Two couples meet to discuss the bad behavior of
their children. One child has knocked out the other’s two front teeth with a
stick. The adults present a false, civil front in their meeting and engage in
pleasantries. As the play goes on, all courteousness drops and the
characters reveal the very worst in their characters. The room is destroyed.
Relationships between all of the characters seem beyond repair. The characters experience a complete transformation.
“There is a
character that does not change over the course of the play,” said Cromwell.
“People will be surprised who they like in the beginning of the play and who
they like at the end.” A character named Alan remains honest and stays true to
his “core self.” He exhibits bad behavior unabashedly and demonstrates very
little of the civility the others seem keen on retaining. He instead retains
his “bad” nature. The audience will watch as the polite characters around Alan
become monstrous towards one another. Audience members might ask themselves: Is
this the result of repressing bad behavior? “The other characters are allowing
culture and civility to force them to pretend to be nice,” said Cromwell. The
ways in which these characters present themselves are mediated by societal
expectations. They allow themselves to be controlled by these expectations,
whereas Alan seems less inclined to conform.
Is it better to
follow his example? Or is it better to dispense with all civilities, as the
other characters do, and act on honest impulses? Is the world these characters
create a better world? “It’s not necessarily a better world,” said Cromwell, “but
rather an honest, unfiltered look at the world.”
The New York
Times called this play “a study in the tension between civilized surface and
savage instinct.” Is bad behavior instinctive? Are we not naturally good? The
audience, watching this play, might wonder if we force ourselves to exhibit
good behavior, if civility is unnatural. What they might discover is that it’s
necessary for the good of the group, for the good of society. Civilization
moves forward because individuals can delay their gratification and move past
their impulses to benefit the group.
If people were
to behave impulsively, to act on individual desire rather than consider the
good of the whole, society would likely collapse. This is represented in the
destruction of God of Carnage. Children
and marriages are forgotten as these characters succumb to their impulses and
individual desires, and things fall apart.
SHOWDATES:
November 30,
December 1, 4-7, 2012 @ 7:30 p.m.
December 8 @ 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
December 1, 4-7, 2012 @ 7:30 p.m.
December 8 @ 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Wells-Metz Theatre
Amber Hendricks
Themester 2012 intern
