Echo Theatre | Review by Ekaterina Maric
Adult Issues Meet Childlike Hair-Pulling in God of Carnage
25 September 2025
When two sets of parents meet to discuss their children’s violent encounter, their practiced maturity quickly devolves into a playground-esque skirmish. God of Carnage (written by Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton) shows how even the most uptight, proper person has an inner child that is fully equipped to come out, kicking and screaming.
The show takes place entirely in the living room of couple Veronica and Michael Novak (Jenna Roberts and Arran McKenna), who are hosting fellow parents Alan and Annette Raleigh (Jim Adamik and Lainie Hart). The Raleigh’s son, upon being denied entry to a gang of 11-year-old’s led by the Novak’s son, ‘furnished’ himself with a stick and beat the other boy. The parents begin by trying to sort out the situation peacefully, planning on arranging a meet up between the two boys so they can discuss their issues. However, tensions arise throughout — Alan is continuously getting work calls, Michael’s ill treatment of his daughter’s pet guinea pig is put under a microscope, and Annette discovers that her anxiety has a tendency to manifest in the form of vomit. By the end of the show, the disarray of the living room is a perfect representation of the couples’ chaotic interactions.
Although I found the show to be quite funny, I did feel it dragging at times. As the plot is fairly barebones, it relies on quick dialogue and snappy interactions between characters. The expertise of the actors did manage to save the slower moments, where scenes boiled down to little more than a repetition of the conflict that had occurred 5 minutes prior.
As the eccentric hostess, Jenna Roberts perfectly encapsulated a hypocritical, self-proclaimed ‘hippie’, who has a tendency to place more value on her possessions that she’d admit. Her floaty demeanour quickly became tense and on the offensive at the slightest hint of a challenge, contrasting with her husband. Arran McKenna as Michael played the more light-hearted, carefree spouse, often trying to play both sides to avoid further conflict. McKenna perfectly played his bumbling inadequacy, particularly when he was left to clean up a mess of vomit and seemed to do little more than spread it further, lightly dabbing at the carpet.
Juxtaposing the quirky, artsy couple, Annette and Alan are a highly-strung pair. Lainie Hart played up her character’s intense anxiety, swinging between overly apologetic, hand wringing moments, and loud, screaming bursts of panic. Jim Adamik gave Alan a haughty, selfish air as he interrupted conversations without apology to answer his phone, spraying cake crumbs all over the hosts’ floor. Despite the play having been originally written in French, the horrifyingly familiar physicality of the actors and small changes in the script (‘Telopea Park’ being where the fight takes place, for example) make the characters feel like they could have walked right out of a Canberran suburb.
Director Jordan Best did a marvellous job at bringing these characters to life. The devolution from the proper, ‘adult’ behaviour of the characters to childlike fighting was subtly done, with a smooth and lengthy transition, but still obvious enough to make its point, as the characters went from politely keeping their distance to climbing over the furniture and brawling with each other. One directional choice I wondered at, however, was the design of the books on stage. Rather than having actual covers, they had plain black text labels such as ‘art’, ‘good art’, ‘more art’, set onto a white background. This didn’t match the tone of the rest of the set (which was simple, but nonetheless very realistic) and felt needlessly quirky.
This production of God of Carnage works best in its parody of daily life. A sharp escalation of emotion is all it takes for adults to become children, asking the question: do we ever really grow more mature? While the plot is somewhat lacking, the actors in this production kept the audience engaged with their witty deliveries and stunning chemistry. Despite a few questionable choices, God of Carnage brings what feels like real people on stage, and has us watch as they go from composed to unhinged.
Ekatarina Maric is a passionate writer and theatre goer, aiming to experience all the Canberra theatre scene has to offer. Before graduating, she participated in her high school’s performing arts program as much as possible, including putting on shows that she had written whilst also performing in the cast. Post graduation, she hopes to continue participating in programs such as Canberra Youth Theatre’s Young Critics, and expand her experience in all areas of theatre. She especially loves shows put on and performed by young people, and adores musical theatre.
