Carnage.

OK, my mind has been blown.

Anupam Barvé (the Director) take a bow. In fact, take the whole fucking tie rack. This was brilliant.

Adapted from the French play, ‘Le Dieu du carnage‘ (‘God of carnage’ in English) by Yasmina Reza, it is about two couples (the entire play takes place in the living room of one of them) who meet to sort out a fight between their pre-teen boys in a nearby park.

And you just know it is going to go downhill from there, right? But despite this forewarning, you realise you are getting pulled into the quagmire against your will by the force of the adaptation, the direction, and superb life-like acting.

Yes, there’s some sort of black comedy, and many people laughed or sniggered at points, but it was a kind of embarrassed laughter (I did not even break a smile) because they saw themselves in the characters. As the father of an 8yo, I kept identifying with one, and then, as a social justice warrior, with another, and then, as a much-married & jaded man, with the other, and even later, as a combative person, with another. It was an effing rollercoaster. At one point, I realised I was holding my breath and gritting my teeth.

The narrative inserts the knife very gently rather early in the story, and then, without respite, keeps twisting and twisting and twisting it until you can feel it against your bones. There is no let-up. Throughout the play, there are a few instances when one character or the other feels like throwing up. In fact, at one point, I did too. It was that tense.

What a story! What an adaptation! What direction! And what acting! It all came together just right.

I am asking my friends to go see this. You don’t even need to know Marathi. Their next show is tomorrow. Do not miss this.