KARACHI: French playwright Yasmina Reza is a modern-day literary giant. Her plays are a delightful social commentaries wrapped in vitriolic humour. She has won many awards, including the prestigious Tony and Moliere awards, for her plays. God of Carnage (2006) is one of them. Director Nida Butt’s attempt at revisiting the English version of the drama at the National Academy of Performing Arts’ in-house theatre on Tuesday evening was a veritable tribute to the genius of the playwright.

Carnage is about two married couples Alan (Momin Zafar) and Annette (Nida Butt) and Michael (Faraz Lodhi) and Veronica (Sanam Saeed) whose sons Benjamin and Henry had a little showdown as a result of which Benjamin beat up Henry with a stick and knocked two of his teeth. Later that day, after dusk, parents of the children decide to meet up to sort out the issue. Benjamin’s father Alan is a busy lawyer who is constantly on the phone talking to clients. Annette, his wife, is embarrassed of her hubby’s demeanor but being short on confidence underplays it initially. Michael is a salesman. His wife, Veronica, is an art lover and is working on a book centred on Darfur.

The action takes place at Michael and Veronica’s house. All of them begin talking about their children in an ostensibly civil and innocuous manner but Veronica tries to make Alan and Annette realise that whatever happened between their children was their son’s fault. She cannot help herself and asks Alan, “Do you intend to punish Benjamin?” The pretentious exchange of pleasantries goes on for a while and Veronica serves them coffee and snacks. When the jibes at each other gain momentum, Annette gets nervy and throws up. She wets the coffee table and dirties not just the refreshments but also an art book that Veronica is fond of. This triggers a frenzied chain of events and the tensions between the two couples come to the fore.

However, they keep trying to revert to their civil behaviour. The discussion shifts to Michael’s releasing of a pet hamster which makes him the butt of the other three characters’ jokes. The sequence unmasks Michael’s coarse nature and in the heat of the moment he delivers a spiel against marriage and having children. This gives way to a boys-versus-girls kind of a situation because subsequently Annette, as Alan receives yet another call on his cell-phone, snatches the phone from him and throws it into a flower vase filled with water. As a result, Alan feels helpless which amuses the women. As the play ends, the issue which sparked off the whole saga remains unresolved but the follies and foibles of the four principal characters get exposed.

Nida Butt’s Carnage was a successful shot at presenting a Yasmina Reza play in its true spirit. The tit-for-tat lines coupled with hilarious physical movements of the married couples were good to watch. The scene where Annette throws up had the audience in stitches. No less side-splitting was the sequence when Michael does his best to dry off Alan’s cell-phone with a hairdryer.

Of course, this could not have been possible if the four actors had not acted well. Sanam Saeed as Veronica was sensational as the overcritical woman. Faraz Lodhi complemented her well as her crude husband. His rendering of lines such as “When you see those laughing couples casting off into the sea of matrimony, you say to yourself, they have no idea, poor things, they just have no idea, they’re happy” was brilliant. Nida Butt as the panic-stricken mother of the child guilty of hurting Veronica’s son was also impressive, especially when she swigs down glasses of rum and comes into her own defying her husband. Momin Zafar played perhaps the most conventional character who makes no bones about being selfish. Therefore the actor did what was precisely required of him.

The only problem with the drama was the audibility of some of the dialogues. It might have to do with the acoustics of the stage or the constant coming and going of theatre-watchers through the main doors to the auditorium which affected the sound system.

The play was part of Napa’s ongoing arts festival.