(CAMDEN, NJ) -- South Camden Theatre Company presents God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza across three weekends in November 2024 Using a translation by Christopher Hampton, the production of the 2009 Tony Award winning play is directed by Connie Norwood.
A playground altercation between eleven-year-old boys brings together two sets of Brooklyn parents for a meeting to resolve the matter. At first, diplomatic niceties are observed, but as the meeting progresses, and the rum flows, tensions emerge, and the gloves come off, leaving the couples with more than just their liberal principles in tatters.
The cast includes Eric Crist (Michael), Claire Golden Drake (Veronica), Marc D. Donovan (Alan), and Caity Brown (Annette).
Performances take place Friday, November 8 at 8:00pm; Saturday, November 9 at 8:00pm; Sunday, November 10 at 2:00pm; Friday, November 15 at 8:00pm; Saturday, November 16 at 8:00pm; Sunday, November 17 at 2:00pm; Friday, November 22 at 8:00pm; Saturday, November 23 at 8:00pm; and Sunday, November 24 at 2:00pm. Tickets are available for purchase online. South Camden Theatre Company is located at 400 Jasper Street in Camden, New Jersey.
“Examined coldly, this 90-minute play about two couples who meet to discuss a playground fight between two of their children isn’t much more than a sustained Punch and Judy show, dressed to impress with sociological accessories. But there’s a reason that Punch and Judy’s avatars have fascinated audiences for so many centuries in cultural forms low (“The Honeymooners” of 1950s television) and high (Edward Albee’s 1962 drama Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?). God of Carnage, which is poised somewhere in between, definitely delivers the cathartic release of watching other people’s marriages go boom. A study in the tension between civilized surface and savage instinct, this play (which recently won the Olivier Award in London for best new comedy) is itself a satisfyingly primitive entertainment with an intellectual veneer.“— NY Times
Playwright Yasmina Reza was the daughter of Jewish parents who had immigrated to France. Her Iranian father was an engineer, businessman, and pianist; her mother was a violinist originally from Budapest. Reza studied at the University of Paris X, Nanterre, and at the drama school of Jacques Lecoq before working as an actress. The first two plays she wrote, both winners of a Molière Award, were Conversations après un enterrement (1986; Conversations After a Burial), involving death and sex, and La Traversée de l’hiver (1989; Winter Crossing), about the unlikely friendship that develops between six people spending their vacation at a Swiss mountain resort.
South Camden Theatre Company is proud to call Camden home. When the company was founded in 2005, performances were held in the basement theatre of the Sacred Heart Church. They are now the proud owners of The Waterfront South Theatre, the first free-standing theatre built for live theatre in Camden in more than 100 years.
The Waterfront South neighborhood is home to a growing arts community. Their arts neighbors now include Camden FireWorks, artist studios and gallery, The Nick Virgilio Writer’s House, Mighty Writers, Bee Still Studios, The Camden Shipyard & Maritime Museum, Camden Boat Works, and the Center For Environmental Transformation, along with The Heart of Camden, and The Sacred Heart Church.
