God of Carnage - Lyric Hammersmith
Sept 9, 2023 16:22:08 GMT
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Post by Steve on Sept 9, 2023 16:22:08 GMT
I enjoyed today's matinee.
This cynical play, about two sets of apparently genteel parents, who meet up after the kid of one has knocked two teeth out of the kid of the other, is still funny.
Martin Hutson gets the most laughs in the old Ken Stott role of a husband who is more interested in placating the other parents than defending his kid or his wife.
Some spoilers follow. . .
This is not as well done as the original production, principally because Freema Agyeman goes too far too fast. Her character, Veronica, has the most pretensions to civility, but Agyeman is already losing it from the get-go. It's like she's already at 90 percent wired at the beginning, so her journey to 100 percent wired doesn't carry the fear, anticipation and curiosity that it should. By contrast, in the West End production, you'd have thought that butter wouldn't melt in Janet McTeer's mouth at the start of the play, so her journey from zero to a hundred was shatteringly frightening and funny.
That said, Martin Hutson is a gem as Veronica's husband, Michael, utterly credible as the ultimate ingratiator, his gurning, grinning, desperate people pleasing, funny in and of itself, given his wife's massive passive aggression towards him, collapsing degree by hilarious degree into atavism, maximising every laugh.
If Hutson is the funniest on stage, Dinita Gohil is the most believable, in the old Tamsin Grieg role, coming across as warm, real, genuine and relatable. In this respect, she is probably even better casting than Greig, as you expected Greig to be funny (she always is), whereas Gohil's Annette seems utterly normal and reasonable, until she suddenly, credibly, hilariously isn't.
In the old Ralph Fiennes role, Alan, ostensibly the least civilised, most boorish character on stage, who is almost proud of his son's violence, Ariyon Bakare is warmer than the ice cold, acquiline, gangsterish Fiennes, which initially seems a mistake, given his character's role in the proceedings, but it does allow you to like him a little bit, which sucks you into his worldview more effectively.
Ultimately, the West End production remains unsurpassed, but this revival demonstrates that the play can still get laughs even if it feels less shocking.
It can't possibly feel as shocking because the Gods of Carnage are so rampant on social media, with everyone tearing into everyone else so publicly, that absolutely nobody thinks human beings are naturally civilised anymore lol.
3 and a half stars of jaded laughs from me.
Running time was 95 minutes straight through.
This cynical play, about two sets of apparently genteel parents, who meet up after the kid of one has knocked two teeth out of the kid of the other, is still funny.
Martin Hutson gets the most laughs in the old Ken Stott role of a husband who is more interested in placating the other parents than defending his kid or his wife.
Some spoilers follow. . .
This is not as well done as the original production, principally because Freema Agyeman goes too far too fast. Her character, Veronica, has the most pretensions to civility, but Agyeman is already losing it from the get-go. It's like she's already at 90 percent wired at the beginning, so her journey to 100 percent wired doesn't carry the fear, anticipation and curiosity that it should. By contrast, in the West End production, you'd have thought that butter wouldn't melt in Janet McTeer's mouth at the start of the play, so her journey from zero to a hundred was shatteringly frightening and funny.
That said, Martin Hutson is a gem as Veronica's husband, Michael, utterly credible as the ultimate ingratiator, his gurning, grinning, desperate people pleasing, funny in and of itself, given his wife's massive passive aggression towards him, collapsing degree by hilarious degree into atavism, maximising every laugh.
If Hutson is the funniest on stage, Dinita Gohil is the most believable, in the old Tamsin Grieg role, coming across as warm, real, genuine and relatable. In this respect, she is probably even better casting than Greig, as you expected Greig to be funny (she always is), whereas Gohil's Annette seems utterly normal and reasonable, until she suddenly, credibly, hilariously isn't.
In the old Ralph Fiennes role, Alan, ostensibly the least civilised, most boorish character on stage, who is almost proud of his son's violence, Ariyon Bakare is warmer than the ice cold, acquiline, gangsterish Fiennes, which initially seems a mistake, given his character's role in the proceedings, but it does allow you to like him a little bit, which sucks you into his worldview more effectively.
Ultimately, the West End production remains unsurpassed, but this revival demonstrates that the play can still get laughs even if it feels less shocking.
It can't possibly feel as shocking because the Gods of Carnage are so rampant on social media, with everyone tearing into everyone else so publicly, that absolutely nobody thinks human beings are naturally civilised anymore lol.
3 and a half stars of jaded laughs from me.
Running time was 95 minutes straight through.
