A Matterhorn-type rollercoaster ride is available at the Malibu Playhouse. It is a bumpy ride and the queasy should be forewarned.
Yasmina Reza’s hit comedy, “God of Carnage,” sneaks up on you in the guise of a meeting between two sets of ostensibly reasonable parents for the purpose of amiably discussing an incident of playground misbehavior involving their sons — one boy knocked out the other’s two teeth. The meeting begins well but ends badly. Before the play’s 90 minutes are over the parents have demonstrated behavior that makes the errant child’s conduct seem benign.
The action takes place in the neat upscale living room of the Novaks, the parents of the injured boy. There is art on the walls and a coffee table is strewn with art and travel books. Veronica Novak (Kathleen Dunn) is a writer and the books on the table are hers. Her husband, Michael (A Martinez), is a wholesale merchant. The parents of the misbehaved boy are Annette and Alan Raleigh (Courtney Rackley and Nick Stabile). Annette is a “wealth manager” and Alan an in-house lawyer for a pharmaceutical company.
The parents begin their discussion civilly over espresso and a special pastry that Veronica has made. Alan soon becomes distracted when he receives a phone call reporting that his company’s new wonder drug has produced a disastrous result. His continual telephone chatter attempting to control the publicity fallout irritates everyone, particularly his wife.
The couples’ initial friendliness quickly disintegrates and the playground incident is left behind. The conversation ricochets raucously among subjects such as racial prejudice, homophobia and misogyny. The espresso is replaced by a bottle of rum that circulates freely, fueling tempers and elevating the decibel level. The verbal battles also become physical at one point. Either the stress of the situation or Veronica’s pastry causes Annette to vomit on the coffee table and on Veronica’s treasured books. A frenzy of excitement and activity ensues.
The chaos climaxes with a hysterical Annette dunking her husband’s cell phone, which he needs to keep in touch with his office, into a vase of tulips and he then in a rage strews the flowers all over the floor. By play’s end the stage is littered with debris, the four actors are limp and the audience has had a thrilling ride.
The play demands exhausting emotional and physical performances and the actors respond superbly. Martinez, Dunn and Stabile are veterans of the Malibu Playhouse. Rackley is a busy television actor who is new to the Playhouse.
Kudos to director Graeme Clifford. This play, with its rapid-fire and overlapping dialogue and required precise choreographic movement, is a directorial challenge he met fully.
“God of Carnage” runs until Sunday, March 8, on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets may be purchased through the box office at www.malibuplayhouse.org online or by calling 310.589.1998. The Malibu Playhouse is located at 29243 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu, CA 90265, near Kanan-Dume Road, between Heathercliff and Westward Beach Roads.