Good God! barebones’ ‘Carnage’ Is Mercilessly Funny and Frightening

Barebones productions opened God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza,  to a sold-out house. That’s not unusual for barebones because the house seats barely 70 people and this small company in Braddock has an envious reputation for producing sharply relevant plays. Yet, while barebones often extends the run of its shows due to popular demand, there’s a good chance that the Thanksgiving holiday may curtail that happy opportunity. After all, actors have families, too; in-laws and cousins, and, most importantly, children who need their love and attention. The holiday comes with a lot of responsibilities. So before you start counting how many people to feed this year, before you change the sheets in the guest room or commit to baking, say, a fancy, French clafouti (a dessert featured in this tasty play), you best plan a night for yourself in barebones’ black box theater. Among the many meaningful joys for which you will wish to give thanks this year, God of Carnage should be one of them. This devastatingly dark yet riotous comedy is scheduled to close November 23. For the sake of all theater lovers in (or visiting?) Pittsburgh this year, let’s hope it does not.

Middle-age parents Michael and Veronica Novak have asked Alan and Annette Raleigh to their home to discuss a playground incident which involved their respective sons getting into a fight that morning. Apparently, Benjamin Raleigh hit Henry Novak with a stick, knocking out two teeth and fattening his lip. The eleven-year-old boys aren’t present for this adult conversation. But each set of parents seem sufficiently informed by their children to address the incident, perhaps with the good intent to take responsibility for their offspring’s misdeeds. 

Veronica or “Ronnie” is writing up a joint report and recites that Benjamin “was armed” with the stick that caused her son’s injuries. The Raleighs suggest “was furnished with” would be better words to record, in that the use of “armed” would suggest malice aforethought. Indeed, Alan Raleigh is a lawyer—or at least he’s employed by a legal firm to control public opinion for their corporate clients—so he knows how words can be easily misconstrued. But Michael seems to think that Alan’s son Benjamin provoked the fight. And Alan seems to think Benjamin was justified because Michael’s son Henry had snitched on Benjamin. Which thus inspires Annette to ask how Ronnie would have even known that Benjamin was the aggressor. Michael confirms that he and his wife had forced Henry to tell them. And so Alan points out what is now evident; Henry is a snitch. Ronnie tries to deescalate the confrontation, adamant that no one is seeking to blame anyone. But, of course, she totally is. Likewise, Annette insists she and Alan are simply trying to be responsible parents. Yet, quite evidently, neither are. And Michael?  Well, Michael doesn’t care. He is so stressed with his wife’s rage, his own mother calling incessantly from her hospital bed, his failing wholesale supply company—even his daughter’s damn hamster keeps him awake at night—he just wants to check out. And that’s just the first ten minutes of this rollicking roller coaster of caustic comedy.

Trust me, despite these callous characters crying for mercy from a god who offers none, it’s all awfully funny. At moments, the play is hysterical. In fact, it’s a riot. Yes, this is a comedy because we can only laugh at what is really happening here. God of Carnage is so beautifully written—words like awfully funny, hysterical, or riot have their double entendres for us to misconstrue—its almost incomprehensible that this play, originally written in French, has also been translated into German, Spanish, and Hungarian to worldwide acclaim. Yasmina Reza wrote it in 2006. The play premiered in Zurich, Switzerland, that year and was followed by a 2007 production in Ljubljana, Slovenia, to be translated then (by Christopher Hampton) into English for a West End run that won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2008. 

Broadway picked it up in 2009 and starred Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden. In 2011, Roman Polanski directed a film adaptation, titled Carnage, starring Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz, and Kate Winslet. And the stage version has been revived several times since, running in Chile, Belgium, Australia, and most recently, Off Broadway in 2023. And right now, Yasmina Reza is enjoying a revival of an earlier success, Art, which is currently running on Broadway.

In Pittsburgh—in barebones’ intimate black box theater—the four-hand cast is David Whalen as Alan Raleigh, Gayle Pazerski as Annette Raleigh, Daina Michelle Griffith as Veronica Novak, and barebones’ own artistic director, Patrick Jordan as Michael Novak. In no particular order of praise, Daina Griffith has a laugh that’s just plain infectious, quite alarming, and on point. She opens the show with such arrogant officiousness; Griffith makes her role delicious when words trip her up, when her shallow righteousness is revealed as priceless coffee table books that interpret “third world” culture for the elite, when her brightly lit, tulip-filled living room masks very dark shadows she scrambles to hide. As Annette, Gayle Pazerski plays a role obligated never to upstage her husband. He calls her Woof-woof (the reason for which must not be spoiled here) and indeed she obeys her master until the stress of the situation grips her stomach like a bad case of food poisoning. And none of this helps when she does defy her husband, chugging expensive rum that’s meant for after-supper sipping. As Alan, David Whalen carries extra weight  easily and seamlessly. Alan’s mobile phone constantly rings with office updates on a likely verdict which may reveal his pharma client’s vile greed. Thus, he’s got two worlds in conflict to contend with—and one is clearly more important than the other. Whalen is a longtime, dedicated professional of Pittsburgh’s many stages. He’s one of our best. And so, too, is Patrick Jordan. As Michael Novak, he projects a happy veneer of success under which he suffers a manic shame for all that he has not earned, including the respect of his family. It’s wonderful to watch such a bold actor offer up so many subtle gestures of insecurity. 

Of course, no play as great as this has a chance to win an audience unless it’s directed by someone as meticulous as Melissa Martin. A tight set—brilliant, yet simply suggested by Tony Ferrieri’s scenic design—requires exceptional pacing and blocking. Martin builds the story with palpable tension and plenty of thirst-quenching breaks for true comic relief. Likewise, a tight stage and script requires great stage management. Thanks here to Claire Durr. Andrew David Ostrowski’s lighting design is potent, accommodating a lot of diverse action and, thus, focusing audience attention. Production director, Eric Papineau, and props designer/dresser, Rikkilee Rose, had their hands full and delivered the goods without a flaw. Andrew Michel, designer, and Ian Bowen, operator, provide great sound works. Tolin FX is credited for the great special effect that ratchets up the tension and laughter. For costumes, Patrick Jordan gets the applause for helping to define these mortal souls clad in everyday armor.

God of Carnage runs until November 23 at barebones black box theater in Braddock, 1211 Braddock Ave. across from the U.S. Steel’s Edgar Thompson Works.

Photos by Jeff Swensen

C. Prentiss Orr is a Pittsburgh-based writer who covers theater and other topics for Entertainment Central. He is the author of the books The Surveyor and the Silversmith and Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred. Mike Vargo is an independent writer based in Pittsburgh.

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