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Melville Theatre Company presents
Yasmina Reza’s
The God of Carnage
Directed by Thomas Dimmick
If you have any questions about anything in this audition pack or would like further explanation, please send the question to t_dimmick@hotmail.com.
About The God of Carnage
Before the play begins, two 11-year-old children, Ferdinand Reille and Bruno Vallon get involved in an argument because Bruno refuses to let Ferdinand join his 'gang'. Ferdinand knocks out two of Bruno's teeth with a stick. That night, the parents of both children meet to discuss the matter. Ferdinand's father, Alain, is a lawyer who is never off his mobile phone. Ferdinand's mother, Annette is in "wealth management" (her husband's wealth, to be precise), and consistently wears good shoes. Bruno's father, Michel, is a self-made wholesaler with an unwell mother. Michel's wife, Véronique, is writing a book about Darfur. As the evening goes on, the meeting degenerates into the four getting into irrational arguments, and their discussion falls into the loaded topics of sexism, racial prejudice and homophobia.
Production Information
Production dates: 13-15, 19-22, 26-28 September 2024. 7.30 pm performances except Sundays at 5pm.
Performance location: Melville Theatre
Rehearsals commence: 16th July
Rehearsals: 1pm – 4pm on Saturdays and 7pm – 10 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Auditions:
Auditions will be held on the 25th and 26thof May. Auditions will be done in a group format, working on two different excerpts from the play in a group and then presenting them. Each audition window will go for approximately an hour. During this window, you will be paired with different people, do different scenes and potentially read for different characters.
Excerpts will be decided during the audition, but they will come from a selection included in this page. You are not expected to learn lines for this audition, but a familiarity with the wording is expected. There will be printed copies of the extracts at the auditions.
You will need to be available for potential callbacks on the 2nd of June, 10am - 12pm
To book an audition time, please go to https://www.slottr.com/carnage
Roles & Requirements:
There is not age set for any of the characters. For this show I am just after four actors who look like they are upper middle-class people who would have an 11-year-old child. If you feel you can portray that, then you are encouraged to audition.
Alain
Male
The Father of the “attacker”, a lawyer, who is too busy for this meeting and thinks the two boys should just hash things out “man to man”. Obsessively focused on his work and cell phone. A true ‘alpha male’. Secretly proud of his bully son. He often implies that women have a host of limitations.
Annette
Female
Mother of the “attacker”, higher class, a wealth manager who presents herself as an elite member of the one percent. She attempts to keep the peace and constantly keeping her husband in check despite feeling abandoned by him. Unfortunately, the pressures of motherhood and household have eroded her self-confidence. Annette feels abandoned by her husband who is eternally preoccupied with work.
Michel
Male
Father of the “victim”, a self‐made wholesaler of domestic hardware. Tries to play peacekeeper for as long as possible perhaps even bond with the Reilles. He is quick to agree with the Reilles, even making light of the violence, commenting on how he was a leader of his own gang during his childhood. Passed off as a liberal by his wife despite being a “raging Neanderthal.”
Veronique
Female
Mother of the “victim”, a writer who works part-time in an art and history library. A caring earth mother‐type who turns into a wild‐woman warrior. She appears like the most benevolent of the bunch believing that they can all come to an agreement about how Ferdinand should make amends for his attack. She is fiercely judgmental though always posing to behave with the utmost courtesy.
EXTRACT 1
VERONIQUE. So, this is our statement – you’ll be doing your own, of course… ‘At 5.30pm on the 3rd November, in Aspirant Dunant Gardens, following a verbal altercation, Ferdinand Reille, eleven, armed with a stick, struck our son, Bruno Vallon, in the face. This action resulted in, apart from a swelling of the upper lip, the breaking of two incisors, including injury to the nerve in the right incisor.’
ALAIN. Armed?
VERONIQUE. Armed? You don’t like ‘armed? – what shall we say, Michel, furnished, equipped, furnished with a stick, is that all right?
ALAIN. Furnished, yes.
MICHEL. ‘Furnished with a stick’.
VERONIQUE. Furnished. The irony is, we’ve always regarded Aspirant Dunant Gardens as a haven of security, unlike the Montsouris Park.
MICHEL. She’s right. We’ve always said the Mountsouris Park no, Aspirant Dunant Gardens yes.
VERONIQUE. Absolutely. Anyway, thank you for coming. There’s nothing to be gained from getting stuck down some emotional cul-de-sac.
ANNETTE. We should be thanking you. We should.
VERONIQUE. I don’t see that any thanks are necessary. Fortunately, there is still such a thing as the art of co-existence, is there not?
ALAIN. Which the children don’t appear to have mastered. At least, not ours!
ANNETTE. Yes, not ours!...What’s going to happen to the tooth with the affected nerve?...
VERONIQUE. We don’t know yet. They’re being cautious about the prognosis. Apparently the nerve hasn’t been totally exposed.
MICHEL. Only a bit of it’s been exposed.
VERONIQUE. Yes. Some of it’s been exposed and some of it’s still covered. That’s why they’ve decided not to kill the nerve just yet.
MICHEL. They’re trying to give the tooth a chance.
VERONIQUE. Obviously it would be best to avoid endodontic surgery.
ANNETTE. Well, yes…
VERONIQUE. So there’ll be an interim period while they give the nerve a chance to recover.
MICHEL. In the meantime, they’ll be giving him ceramic crowns.
VERONIQUE. Whatever happens, you can’t have an implant before you’re eighteen.
MICHEL. No.
VERONIQUE. Permanent implants can’t be fitted until you finish growing.
ANNETTE. Of course. I hope…I do hope it all works out.
VERONIQUE. Let’s hope so.
EXTRACT 2
VERONIQUE. I don’t know who put the clafoutis in the fridge. Monica puts everything in the fridge, she won’t be told. What’s Ferdinand said to you? Sugar?
ALAIN. No, thanks. What’s in the clafoutis?
VERONIQUE. Apples and pears.
ANNETTE. Apples and pears?
VERONIQUE. My own little recipe.
She cuts the clafoutis and distributes slices.
It’s going to be too cold, shame.
ANNETTE. Apples and pears, this is a first.
VERONIQUE. Apples and pears, it’s pretty textbook, but there’s a trick to it.
ANNETTE. There is?
VERONIQUE. Pears need to be cut thicker than apples. Because pears cook faster than apples.
ANNETTE. Ah, of course.
MICHEL. But she’s not telling you the real secret.
VERONIQUE. Let them try it.
ALAIN. Very good. It’s very good.
ANNETTE. Tasty.
VERONIQUE. … Gingerbread crumbs!
ANNETTE. Brilliant!
VERONIQUE. It’s a version of the way they make clafoutis in Picardy. To be quite honest, I got it from his mother.
ALAIN. Gingerbread, delicious… Well, at least all this has given us a new recipe.
VERONIQUE. I’d have preferred it if it hadn’t cost my son two teeth.
ALAIN. Of course, that’s what I meant.
ANNETTE. Strange way of expressing it.
ALAIN. Not at all, I…
His mobile vibrates, he looks at the screen.
I have to take this…Yes, Maurice…No, no, don’t ask for right of reply, you’ll only feed the controversy…Are you insured?...Mm, mm…What are these symptoms, what is ataxia?...What about on a standard dose?...How long have you known about this?...And all that time you never recalled?... What’s the turnover? ...Ah, yes. I see…Right.
EXTRACT 3
ALAIN. If anyone calls me a grass, I’m liable to get annoyed.
MICHEL. Unless it’s true.
ALAIN. What did you say?
MICHEL. I mean, supposed it’s justified?
ANNETTE. My son is a grass?
MICHEL. Course not, I was joking.
ANNETTE. Yours is as well, if that’s to be the way of it.
MICHAEL. What do you mean, ours is as well?
ANNETTE. Well, he did identify Ferdinand.
MICHEL. Because we insisted!
VERONIQUE. Michael, this is completely beside the point.
ANNETTE. What’s the difference? Whether you insisted or not, he gave you the name.
ALAIN. Annette.
ANNETTE. Annette what? (To Michel.) You think my son is a grass?
MICHEL. I don’t think anything.
ANNETTE. Well, if you don’t think anything, don’t any anything. Stop making these insinuations.
VERONIQUE. Lets stay calm, Annette. Michel and I are making an effort to be reasonable and moderate…
ANNETTE. Not that moderate.
VERONIQUE. Oh, really? What do you mean?
ANNETTE. Moderate on the surface.
ALAIN. I really have to go, Woof-woof…
ANNETTE. All right, go on, be a coward.
ALAIN. Annette, right now I’m risking my most important client, so this responsible parent routine…
VERONIQUE. My son has lost two teeth. Two incisors.
ALAIN. Yes, yes, I think we all got that.
VERONIQUE. One of them for good.
ALAIN. He’ll have new ones, we’ll give him new ones! Better ones! It’s not as if he’s burst an eardrum!
ANNETTE. We’re making a mistake not to take into account the origin of the problem.
VERONIQUE. There’s no origin. There’s just an eleven-year-old child hitting someone. With a stick.
EXTRACT 4
VERONIQUE. Terrible stink of Kouros!...
MICHEL. Ghastly.
ALAIN. You certainly laid it on.
ANNETTE. I’m sorry.
VERONIQUE. Not your fault. I was the one spraying like a lunatic…Anyway, why can’t we take things more lightly, why does everything always have to be so exhausting?...
ALAIN. You think too much. Women think too much.
ANNETTE. There’s an original remark, I bet that’s thrown you for a loop.
VERONIQUE. ‘Think too much’, I don’t know what that means. And I don’t see the point of existence without some kind of moral conception of the world.
MICHEL. See what I have to live with?
VERONIQUE. Shut up! Will you shut up?! I detest this pathetic complicity! You disgust me.
MICHEL. Come on, have a sense of humour.
VERONIQUE. I don’t have a sense of humour. And I have no intention of acquiring one.
MICHEL. What I always say is, marriage: the most terrible ordeal God can inflict on you.
ANNETTE. Great.
MICHEL. Marriage and children.
ANNETTE. There’s no call for you to share your views with us, Michel. As a matter of fact, I find it slightly indecent.
VERONIQUE. That’s not going to worry him.
MICHEL. You mean you don’t agree?
ANNETTE. These observations are irrelevant. Alain, say something.
ALAIN. He’s entitled to his opinions.
ANNETTE. Yes, but he doesn’t have to broadcast them.
ALAIN. Well, yes, perhaps…
ANNETTE. We don’t give a damn about their marriage. We’re here to settle a problem to do with our children, we don’t give a damn about their marriage.
ALAIN. Yes, but…
ANNETTE. But what? What do you mean?
ALAIN. There’s a connection.
MICHEL. There’s a connection! Of course there’s a connection.
VERONIQUE. There’s a connection between Bruno having his teeth broken and our marriage?!
MICHEL. Obviously.
ANNETTE. We’re not with you.
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