The Parent Trap

The situation is so commonplace that everybody must have come across an incident like that Two kids have a playground fight and their parents come to battle swords drawn Kids may bash each other and forget about it but once adult tempers fray therersquos no saying where it will endYasmina Rezarsquos play The God of Carnage translated into English by Christopher Hampton is a fourhander that became so popular that several productions were staged and Roman Polanski turned it into a film It is easy to see why the thin plot would attract actors like Ralph Fiennes James Gandolfini Jodie Foster Kate Winslet Christoph Waltz who are among the stars who have played ordinary suburban parents whose veneer of civility is ripped off as the play or film progressesA still from the play The God of Carnage staged by by Q Theatre ProductionsThe Mumbai version by Q Theatre Productions under the Aadyam initiative directed by Nadir Khan could very well have taken place in an Indian living room If the playwright had permitted an adaptation there was a rich vein of local humour to be mined because when we fight there are layers of class caste status and background differences that emerge When people are being polite their prejudices are hidden but once the masks are off political correctness is the first casualtyThe play has four fine actors mdash Shernaz Patel and Sohrab Ardeshir play Veronica and Michael Novak whose elevenyearold son has been beaten up by the sameage boy of Alan and Annette Raleigh played by Zafar Karachiwala and Anu Menon They all meet in the Novaksrsquo home to sort out the problem in a civilized manner The victim has lost two teeth and his mother is trying to be very patient and understanding of the other boyrsquos violent impulse but finds that the perpetratorrsquos parents are not suitably repentantAlan keeps breaking off the conversation to bark into the phone at one of his subordinates about how to deal with the issue of severe sideeffects of a medicinal drug Michaelrsquos mother mdash whose calls keep interrupting the increasingly hysterical conversation mdash has been taking that pill and this causes the tension to exacerbate even moreThe play is meant not just to expose the characters as middle class hypocrites it also uses the playground incident to have them discover hairline fractures in their marriages A lot of heated words are exchanged during the course of the playrsquos 75minute running time but one can see that nothing much will change and no epiphany will take place The two couples may unsheathe their claws and keep switching sides mdash at one point it becomes a battle of the sexes mdash but they donrsquot really want to disturb the status quo of their otherwise placid livesThey make dramatic pronouncements like Michaelrsquos ldquoWhat I am and always have been is a f Neanderthalrdquo or Alanrsquos barb at the bleeding heart Victoria ldquoWomen who are custodians of the world depress usrdquo like they were just discovering deep truths about themselves the seemingly sweet Annette who triggers the playrsquos first crisis by throwing up all over Veronicarsquos precious books snarls towards the end ldquoOur son did well to clout yours and I wipe my ass with your Bill of Rightsrdquo Veronica who cares as much about the trouble in Africa as she does about always doing the right thing is provoked enough to attack her husband and declares ldquoCourtesy is a waste of time it weakens you and undermines yourdquoRezarsquos writing is witty the retorts by the characters woundingly sharp but the degeneration of the urbane drawing room chat into a melee was only to be expected mdash that is the point of the play that ordinary people can have reserves of violence We see it in everyday instances of road rage and slanging matches in public transport over insignificant things which are just blowing off the steam built up by totally unrelated matters But what takes place in the play is not as scalding as the verbal savagery of the Edward Albee classic Whorsquos Afraid of Virginia Woolf which has been held up as the obvious inspiration for this playThe Raleighs keep heading towards the door to leave and keep coming back to take the spat to the next level it is as if both couples are looking for an excuse to say what the would not have dared to under normal circumstances But having erupted thus they will go back to their routine and eventually the hurt will subside Nothing lifechanging takes place in that bland room with its piles of coffee table books old rum in the polished bar and tulips pretentiously displayed The characters pathetically declare it to be the worst day of their lives which only goes to show how dull they really are The worst thing the lsquoNeanderthalrsquo has done is getting rid of his daughterrsquos pet hamster because he couldnrsquot stand it for this crime he is continuously flayedWhatrsquos in it for the audience that titters away through the play and often guffaws loudly Realisation of the fact that under similar circumstances they would behave exactly the same way maybe minus the clever insults that everybody looks for an excuse to behave badly once in a while so that they can feel embarrassed and quickly wear their cloak of sophistication againDeepa Gahlot is an awardwinning film and theatre critic and an arts administrator She tweets at deepagahlot