God of Carnage

The play “God of Carnage” focuses on a bizarre quarrel between two families, their conflict more relatable than we initially think. In the early design process the director (Jamie Billings) and I decided we wanted to provide a simplistic playground-like world for these actors to “play” on. As the play progresses we ask ourselves who are the real children? This design incorporates all of the shows of the season and is the basis of this production. The concept of the harsh concrete world mimics the hardness of the tension, awkwardness, and empathy that we encounter from moment one of this production. The Stone world that they are imprisoned in correlates with western societies expectations of what a parent must be and how one must deal with the quarrels that arise in our children’s lives. The fact that their entire surroundings are stone creates a heavy atmospheric pressure that enhances the tension. The purple concrete represents the aristocracy and piety of the western world in contrast to other countries. We perceive our issues at these intense overwhelming processes, however, when we look at them in the grand scheme how drastic are they? It leads us to ask about our over protective solution to our issues. The characters are encapsulated in this room where their whole life is set in stone and how they should deal with this scenario is laid out for them. Veronica (Kayla Walsh) is obsessed with her books and part of their tension is who is more equipped mentally to deal with this problem when there is no right way to solve it. The blending of the walls and the books makes the viewer uncertain of the environment, which is the point. Once the books are used they show their true colors, just like the characters. It adds color and clarity to the stage towards the end and enhances the message of understanding. Her books represent all of their condescension and “properness” which is an interesting contrast to the end. We typically think that the world is very black and white but this play shows there’s a gray area.