Yasmina Reza’s award-winning play “God of Carnage” is an apt metaphor for much of what’s wrong in the world today: Lots of supposed adults act very much like 11-year-olds. Some are bullies, some fight back, some give up, and some simply complain a lot.
Director Kimberly Ridgeway offers audiences a vibrant, tense version of four (ostensible) adults who meet to discuss the playground fight between their sons, which has resulted in one of the boys losing a couple of teeth.
By play’s end (a scant 85-minutes without an intermission), all four of the “adults” have managed to behave as poorly, actually far worse, than their sons.
The four actors in Pear’s production do an excellent job starting out as amiably cordial and friendly, but all become screaming lunatics by play’s end.
Scott Soloman’s Alan is terrific as the tightly wound lawyer who constantly gets business phone calls on his cell phone that he says he must answer. This infuriates his wife Annette (Patty Reinhart). She’s a caring person who believes he needs to concentrate on working out an amicable solution to what happened between their son and his schoolmate rather than be involved in frequent business phone calls.
The other couple, Michael (Richard Perez) and Veronica (Jaime Melendez), have invited Alan and Annette to their attractively appointed home to discuss what happened between their sons.
Instead, they take to bickering, then shouting at each other, which eventually makes Annette throw up on some books and magazines sitting on the coffee table in front of her. That’s only a prelude to what happens by play’s end. Suffice to say: Pity the poor $35 bouquet of tulips!
Set designer (and technical director) Louis Stone-Collonge has created a sumptuous set, looking every inch of what a middle-class New York living room would look like. Greet Jaspaert’s costumes also add authenticity to the production.
All four actors have obviously delved deeply into their characters and deserve credit for offering up nuances that give them legitimacy. If there’s one nit, it’s that Melendez’s Veronica is sometimes too off-putting. She frequently moves her arms up and down in a way that is exhausting to watch. Her “I know better than the rest of you” attitude also gets tiresome.
As for a hamster who has disappeared in the night, that slight storyline seems superfluous and, perhaps, given too much stage time.
A parable of life today? Sadly, that’s very likely.
“God of Carnage,” presented by The Pear Theatre through June 28, 2026 at Pear Avenue Theater.
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Rating: ***1/2 (For an explanation of TheatreStorm’s rating system, click here.)
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“God of Carnage,” by Yasmina Reza. Director: Kimberly Ridgeway. Set Designer & Technical Director: Louis Stone-Collonge. Costume Designer: Greet Jaspaert. Lighting Designer: Mitchell Ost. Sound Designer: Chris Beer. Stage Manager & Fight Choreographer: Kelly Weber Barraza. Props Designer: Qian Zhang.
Cast
Veronica: Jaime Melendez. Michael: Richard Perez. Annette: Patty Reinhart. Alan: Scott Solomon. U/S Veronica & Annette: Kate Conway.
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