Review: Fresher Play, ‘God of Carnage’

God of Carnage promised civilised conversation descending into childish bickering. It delivered only aggressive, unattractive barbarism.

Immediately striking as one walked into the Barron was the set’s ugliness. The furniture was mismatched but predominantly brown, and it was hard to believe that any family home could be decorated so distastefully. The only saving grace was a vase of flowers placed on the side. The aesthetics were not helped by the addition of fake sick halfway through the play, which was in serious danger of covering the front row. When the actors began to eat clafoutis, their appalling table manners, perhaps a dramatic choice, seemed merely unpleasant.

Throughout, the performance suffered from poor diction and rushed speech. At times, this merely made the actors difficult to understand; at others, it choked appreciation of the play’s jokes. There were a few funny moments, but these were depressingly few and far between, the actors choosing to rely on aggression rather than witty subtlety.

Nevertheless, director Mandarr Brandi should be commended for her decision to cast only females (when two of the roles might otherwise have been played by men) and to make that work. The use of red lighting at the start and end of the play tied the action together nicely, and the red colour scheme fit in with the play’s themes. Although all four actors lacked great depth in their characterisation (in particular, Eveliina Kuitunen’s portrayal of a lawyer lacked power), Catriona Scott’s performance as a shrill housewife was the most engaging, even if her diction was the most unclear. All actors used engaging body language which helped liven up the performance a little. And the second half of the play improved, if only slightly.

Perhaps much of the play’s faults lie with the plot. Banal issues of over-long phone conversations and childhood gangs were absurdly translated into more serious discussions about animal cruelty and children soldiers –the fault of this lies with Yasmin Reza’s script. But the actors’ frequent descents into (terrible) stage fighting and shouting matches, and one odd moment when Sarah Wright decided to strip, only underlined these issues.

God of Carnage fell far short, then. A lot of this can be forgiven, since after all this is a Freshers’ Play. I sincerely hope that Mandarr Brandi, producer Alicia Schultz and the cast continue to be involved in St Andrews theatre. However, this production certainly left much to be desired.

As we always say, don’t take our word for it! Catch ‘God of Carnage’ at the Barron tonight at 6pm for just £3.