Review: Carnage

Terribly fun

Carnage experiences his second coming at Lilla Teatern, now in Finnish. And judging by the reactions of the premiere audience, there will still be a queue at the box office. The title of the play has been wisely kept original (or a shortening of it), because “massacre” or “slaughter”, which is what it really means, would have sounded horrible. A few years ago, the National Theatre had chosen the God of Wrath, which is close in meaning and more easily open up to the audience.

   French writer Yasmina Reza is also an actress, like many of the best dramatists of all time in world literature, and that is a pure plus when interpreting the text. The lines, which at first deliberately cover up and refine, only find their meaning when they are mirrored against the frankness, when “an ugly word is said as it is”. An individual’s inner evil/bad feeling is compared to the dramatic phenomena of society; Some speak or act for the justification of revenge, others just vomit away the disgust that carves out their hearts.

   How does all this become insanely funny. Because it puts middle-class and mediocrity under the microscope, and the settling of the relationship between two couples takes on larger proportions than usual. It’s like sitting in the ring side seats at a boxing match. Teachers in schools know what kind of a chaos it creates when fights are fought and mothers and fathers get to be judges. In this story, too, the boy lost his tooth when the other hit him. It is clear that the fault lies with the other party and their home conditions; Parents are ultimately bastards. The other one.

   Tiina Lymi’s character direction gives a good amount of slack, but skilfully limits in the wild climbing points. The characters have time to make themselves available to the viewers: well-behaved, ordinary, funny people, until the actual character traits and territorial awareness pop into the air. When spouses scold each other at their worst, sensitive issues in family and work life come to light. But ah, how comical that is from a distance. Even women’s questionable way of getting going, even drunkenness…

…. Minna Haapkylä and Jonna Järnefelt take the tension out of their different roles – firmly believing in them – without breaking for a moment, and receive both support from the sidelines and counterforce of astonishing volume from Carl-Kristian Rundman and Pekka Strang. There are alternating wars, alternating alliances, and soon you don’t know who is on whose side. Good roles for good actors.

And as often happens in daring social interaction: the air is purified, but anxiety remains. Just as a hamster does not become street credible just by letting it loose in the hustle and bustle of the city, and a pharmaceutical company cannot indefinitely deny the serious side effects caused by the product (both examples from the play), the viewer does not forget knockouts, that are done with cruel words. And it shouldn’t. Laughter is also laughter that gets stuck in your throat.