God of Carnage

God of Carnage

God of Carnage

Merely Players

through January 31, 2016

Yasmina Reza’s prize winning opus has garnered great reviews wherever performed and in whichever language it may be done in. For once more we meet humans who may have some odd instincts and drives. Another one of those which does reinforce my thought that the word dysfunctional should be a synonym for family.

Merely Players are a small local company under the direction of Joanie McElroy. They are playing this one in two divergent venues. They will be at Out of Box Theatre January 15,16 and 17 and then they move over to OnStage Atlanta for performances January 22, 23, 24, 29, 30 and 31.

We join a terrific cast of four players who are two couples with a little problem to resolve. Michael and Veronica Novak’s kid got into a scuttle with the son of Alan and Annette Raleigh, and he lost a tooth and will have some dental matters to be dealt with. So what’s a parent to do?

In some situations you know they’d call Motlick & Associates. But, Veronica (Barbara Cole Uterhardt) figures it may be more socially correct to invite that scamp’s parents over for an adult discussion. James Beck plays Michael, who isn’t quite the poster boy for social etiquette. But then, it turns out that nobody is quite the same under their skin as they would present at first meeting.

Googie Uterhardt as lawyer Alan Raleigh represents a pharmaceutical firm which is having some issues, and he lives on the damn cell phone. Jacquelyn Wyer is his wife, Annette, who has her own issues vis-a-vis her hubby and her kid.

So when I say that they meet up as possible adults, that may just refer to age groups and not each one’s hidden psyche. The show runs about 75 minutes without an intermission and it is riotous. You are going to see people you have known in real life, dealing with real issues, which may bring you to realize that we’re all the same in many ways, yet somewhat insane in some.

For tickets and more info visit OutofBoxTheatre.com and/or OnStageAtlanta.com. Both of these houses are easy to get to, have free parking and a coffee pot.