The Norman Conquests

GRADE: A

By Alan Ayckbourn. Directed by Matthew Warchus. Circle in the Square. (CLOSED)

Director Matthew Warchus (God of Carnage, Boeing Boeing) has another critical hit on his hands. Critics unanimously praise his ability to direct hilarious farce and bring out its darker undertones. Even those who never cared much for Ayckbourn's plays find new depth and humor in them thanks in large part to the direction. Though a few critics grew tired by the third play, most agree that all three should be seen. There is some debate by critics as to whether the order of the play matters, but there is no debate about the excellence of the ensemble cast (all from the Old Vic production). Dan Kois's New York Magazine diary of the marathon was a little hard to grade, but his enjoyment of the plays was pretty clear, and he sure loved those peanut M&M's at the concession stand.
Note: The Village Voice's Michael Feingold has weighed in and has no use for the trilogy or this production, no matter how talented the actors.

The New York Times A+
(Ben Brantley) Has there been a better season on Broadway for ensemble acting? This six-character work, which arrives from the Old Vic Theater Company under the mighty Matthew Warchus’s direction, joins the swelling list of comedies, dramas and musicals in which performers connect and balance like ace trapeze artists...That the theater is in the round is not, for once, a disadvantage, because the backs and shoulders of these performers are as expressive of these bottled emotions as their faces are. As for what happens when the decanting comes (three times), via some homemade wine, I’ll gallantly refrain from diluting the pleasure of your tasting it. I know the question you want to ask. If you see only one of these plays, which should it be? Let me put it this way: You can’t lose with any one, but you win big if you go to all three. Seeing the entire trilogy in one day, as I did, allowed me the luxurious privilege of getting to know characters in a way that only fat novels allow. I wouldn’t have sacrificed one “oh,” “aah” or pause of those seven hours.

Bergen Record A+
(Robert Feldberg) Seeing the story three times isn't at all tiresome, as the more we know the characters, the funnier — and more touching, in their disappointments — they become. The six-member British cast, which honed its ensemble performance in London, is brilliantly expressive. The actors nail their characters' essential personalities right from the start — aided by Rob Howell's dead-on costumes — and then cleverly fill in the often-unexpected details. They are also delightfully adept at physical comedy, both broad (wrestling with a folded garden chair in a hopeless attempt to open it) and subtle (after rejecting Norman, a woman makes a barely perceptible move toward him before stepping back).

American Theater Web A+
(Andy Propst) Director Matthew Warchus (who demonstrated his flair with farce in his staging of Boeing Boeing last season) deftly balances the most raucous elements of "Conquests" with its more bittersweet elements and the deep wellsprings of emotion that are tapped during the family's weekend together. It's astounding how fluidly the plays' tones shift and often one can have the urge to laugh and wince simultaneously as the characters are placed into exceptionally funny situations that reveal insecurities or sting emotionally. The hairpin twists and turns of Ayckbourn's plays and the comedic highs that they scale are executed by a sextet of indefatigable actors who, after their run in the production at London's Old Vic, are delivering pitch-perfect performances.


Bloomberg News A+
(John Simon) The six actors -- Amelia Bullmore, Jessica Hynes, Stephen Mangan, Ben Miles, Paul Ritter and Amanda Root -- could not be better, and Matthew Warchus (of “Boeing-Boeing” and “God of Carnage” fame) conclusively establishes himself as one of our era’s supreme farce directors. Production values are up to snuff, notably Rob Howell’s costumes and David Howe’s lighting, and the writing is consistently superb. Ayckbourne’s greatness lies in deriving humor not so much from outrageous plotting and streams of one-liners, a la Neil Simon, as from deep insight into human foibles, affectionate kidding of erotic fantasies and verbal pratfalls, and unerring evocation of human folly and flailing. In short, his unsurpassable understanding of our fragile, fallible human condition.

Backstage A+
(Erik Haagensen) Director Matthew Warchus' brisk in-the-round staging is consistently attuned to the script's dark subtext while never stinting on its hilarity. And that's the secret to Ayckbourn's success: This isn't a mere farce; the nearly seven-hour combined running time justifies itself by providing the space to reveal the characters in all their maddening humanity. These people can be foolish, petulant, wasteful, wounding, and sad. But you'll only see that if you see all three plays. The producers would have you believe you can experience them in any order, but I would recommend putting Living Together, which seems least able to stand on its own, in the middle. And as the dramatic climax of Table Manners is not the end of the story, it should go first.

The Daily News A+
(Joe Dziemianowicz) The show, direct from London's Old Vic, is a real treat. Not just because of the sheer size, but because Ayckbourn's ability to crack you up is consistently on display - zinger after zinger, scene after scene, play after play. The show, direct from London's Old Vic, is a real treat. Not just because of the sheer size, but because Ayckbourn's ability to crack you up is consistently on display - zinger after zinger, scene after scene, play after play. Much of the success owes to Matthew Warchus ("God of Carnage," "Boeing-Boeing"), a director with a Midas touch for comedy who's steered a wonderful, well-oiled cast from across the pond. The six actors draw you irresistibly into their exploits.

NY1 A+
(Roma Torre) Ayckbourn gets human foibles better than almost anyone and it's the highest compliment to say that his humor is entirely organic. And with the phenomenal British cast intact from the celebrated London production, we get an added bonus. It's as if they were born to the roles. Just watch how these incredible actors plumb every juicy nuance embedded in their characters. Stephen Mangan's manic rogue womanizer Norman; his wife, the cynically hardened Ruth played by Amelia Bullmore; her sister, the dowdy, unfulfilled Annie and hen-pecked brother Reg played by Jessica Hynes and Paul Ritter respectively; Reg's nagging, prudish wife Sarah played by Amanda Root; and their neighbor, the vacuous, vacant-eyed vet Tom in the person of Ben Miles.


Associated Press A+
(Michael Kuchwara) Ayckbourn's dialogue crackles with the wit of fine British drawing-room comedy, often stinging but anchored in the sharp observations of a playwright who has a generous, forgiving heart for human frailty. Well, at least for everyone except Norman. And, not unexpectedly, a feeling of Chekhovian sadness, floats over the proceedings, too, a realization that life most often doesn't turn out the way you want it to... In London, the Old Vic's legendary proscenium auditorium was converted into an in-the-round theater, something already in place at Circle in the Square. The plays fit snugly into the space, bringing the audience almost into eyeball proximity with all the addictive, onstage tribulations.

The Hollywood Reporter A+
(Frank Scheck) Shifting effortlessly from broad farce to Chekhovian poignancy, the plays feature not only an endless series of hilarious one-liners but also some of the most brilliant physical clowning to be seen on Broadway. But despite all the hilarity, we're constantly reminded of the humanity of the characters -- even Norman, who remains wonderfully endearing despite his utterly amoral behavior. Credit for this must go not only to the writing but also the brilliance of the entire ensemble -- who thankfully have been brought over here despite their relative anonymity on these shores -- and the superb direction by Matthew Warchus, who, on the evidence of not only this production but also "Boeing-Boeing" and "God of Carnage," has established himself as the pre-eminent director of theatrical farce.

Theatermania A+
(David Finkle) For the prolific Ayckbourn, other people's marriages have often been a source of amusement, torment, and possible atonement. In these three works (the other plays are Table Manners and Round and Round the Garden), Ayckbourn takes approximately seven jolly hours to look at what happens over a sour weekend to two knot-tied couples and one not-yet-hitched pair (who may or may never get hitched). Throughout the plays, Ayckbourn never lets up on the hilarity while sending his implicit, absolutely unsentimental message that while relationships are fraught, they're all we've got at the end of the day. As might be expected, Ayckbourn has built this comedy cabinet with the consummate skill of a master carpenter. He places the three parts in -- as the disparate titles imply -- the dining room, living room and garden of a Victorian country house, with each play unfolding in one of the in-the-round settings Rob Howell has designed with appropriately unprepossessing middle-class detail. Some of the action is simultaneous and some sequential; so much of the fun is seeing how the plays dovetail from one to the next.

CurtainUp A+
(Elyse Sommer) To begin, a word about Ayckbourn's appeal to American audiences. His plays do indeed epitomize " Englishness." However, it's more than likely that The Norman Conquests' first appearance on Broadway was rather short-lived because it featured an American cast to portray these so distinctly English characters. When Ayckbourn's plays arrive on our shores with an English cast (like Private Fears Public Places and Intimate Exchanges, both part of the popular Brits Off-Broadway Festival at 59e59th street-- see link below) audiences respond both to Ayckbourn's clever structural gimmickry and the darkness that adds depth to his humor. Luckily, this new but hilarious and poignant as ever Norman Conquests has come to Broadway with the terrific British cast and director from the much lauded Old Vic production on board. While Mr. Warchus has made quite a name for himself as the director of of Yasmina Rez's plays, most recently God of Carnage none of the cast members are likely to be as well known as were their 1975 American counterparts (Richard Benjamin, Ken Howard, Barry Nelson Estelle Parsons, Paula Prentice and Carole Shelley). But, no matter. This is a simply superb ensemble. Their timing is sheer perfection— whether individually or in concert, whether in landing a punch line or coming out of some of the meaningful pauses that punctuate this family's idiosyncratic behavior. Their body language and facial expressions are fraught with meaning so that you'll often find yourself laughing even when not a word is said.

Talk Entertainment A+
(Oscar E Moore) You will be hooked on these characters and want to know what happens to them over this long, illuminating and catastrophic weekend. In fact after seeing Garden I made sure to see the other two installments. Is is quite the theatrical event of the season. An incredible feat of theatrical engineering. Not since the original PBS series Brideshead Revisited have I been so intrigued to the point of becoming addicted to a group of English characters. The production has been brought over from London with its original Old Vic cast and directed with sardonic glee and finesse by Matthew Warchus – in the round - at Circle in the Square Theatre for a limited engagement of 16 weeks. It is not to be missed.

New Yorker A+
(Trish Deitch) Wilder and farther outside the box than your average drawing-room comedy, this sophisticated, hilarious, and ultimately profound trilogy, masterfully directed by Matthew Warchus, takes shtick about as far as it can go in nearly seven hours—which is to say, unusually far. A lot is owed to the six actors, who bring their characters’ vulnerabilities to life in fresh and vivid ways.

Lighting & Sound America A
(David Barbour) Under Warchus' keen-eyed direction, these comedies of acute embarrassment are all played for real, not for laughs, the result being that the laughs are huge; he also lets the action pause every now and then to reveal just how deeply unhappy six people can be. "I think other people's marriages are invariably a source of amazement," says Ruth, in one of her more charitable moments; here they're a source of endless amusement. The production also benefits from an ingenious design. Rob Howell's circular set is topped by a disk depicting the local countryside in miniature; it rises to reveal the setting of each play. David Howe's marvelously subtle lighting creates thoroughly believable interior and exterior effects, as well as bright morning sunlight and moody moon-washed looks. Howell's costumes are models of mid-'70s middle-class taste. Simon Baker's sound design includes birdsong and a cat's meow (a key plot point), as well as reinforcement for Gary Yershon's incidental music and a playlist of period pop tunes, including "Here Comes the Sun."...Even if you see only one, rest assured that you'll be experiencing Ayckbourn's work as it is meant to be done. The Norman Conquests is more than the most amusing attraction on Broadway -- it's a master class in truthful comic acting.

TONY A
(David Cote) We all know that 2008–09 has been the Season of the Star: An unusually high number of marquee names—from Daniel Radcliffe to Jane Fonda—have scattered stardust across the boards, goosing box offices and earning unwarranted praise in some quarters. With the arrival of The Norman Conquests (hot on the heels of last week’s Mary Stuart), you can forget such slumming celebritude. The sextet that drives this unique treat offers the proverbial master class in meticulously crafted seriocomic performance. Here’s hoping some of those big names take a night off from their shows to learn a trick or two.

USA Today A
(Elysa Gardner) The angst is more exhilarating, and abundant, in The Norman Conquests (* * *½), now at the Circle in the Square Theatre. This splendid new staging of Alan Ayckbourn's comic trilogy, imported from London's Old Vic, runs just under seven hours, including three 20-minute intermissions. But director Matthew Warchus and his expert cast make the time fly, even if you see the plays in succession, as they're performed on Saturdays and select Sundays.

Entertainment Weekly A
(Melissa Rose Bernardo) The perfection of Conquests' construction isn't evident until you view all three — each a slice of a single weekend-in-the-country life cut from three spots (a dining room, lounge, and garden). For proof of the trilogy's expert craftsmanship, read them in sequence, as Ayckbourn wrote them: Begin with scene 1 of Round and Round the Garden, then scene 1 of Table Manners, then scene 1 of Living Together, and so on. You'll find yourself flipping between the scripts mid-scene when actions occur simultaneously. It's masterful — an impenetrable dramaturgical fortress. Not a crack to be found. (The British author's easy way with a laugh, not to mention his sheer productivity — the 70-year-old has penned 72 full-length plays — often belies his skill.) Similarly, only upon the completion of the trilogy is the depth of these six characters revealed.

Wall Street Journal A
(Terry Teachout) Alan Ayckbourn writes funny plays about sad people. It's an unsettling combination, which may explain why England's most popular and prolific playwright isn't as well known in this country as he ought to be -- but if anything can put Mr. Ayckbourn at the center of our theatrical map, it'll be the Old Vic's razor-sharp revival of "The Norman Conquests," which has come to Broadway after a triumphant London run. This 1973 triptych of plays about the travails of a suburban family is one of the 20th century's comic masterpieces, and the Old Vic's production is as good a staging as you're likely to see in your lifetime... All six members of Mr. Warchus's ensemble cast also appeared in London, and their well-honed performances snap together with crisp precision. Ms. Hynes is not as subtle as her colleagues -- Finnerty Steeves' performance in the Milwaukee Repertory Theater's equally fine 2007 revival of "The Norman Conquests" was quite a bit more poignant -- but she holds her own.

Variety A
(David Rooney) Ayckbourn's Chekhovian ability to reveal brooding depths without relinquishing humor has never been sharper. Each character gets more than one moment of self-revelation, but the playwright and director linger on the pathos just long enough, pulling back to show the funny side of even the most melancholy insights. What makes the plays so enjoyable is the tangy balance of bitterness and compassion; the characters are maddening and their relationships deeply frustrating, but they seem destined to endure. Even their most brittle exchanges bear traces of tenderness. The play's observations may occasionally show their roots in the mid-'70s -- a period evoked with crisp understatement by the director and designers -- but the material and its endless volley of jokes have aged remarkably well. Nobody does escalating mayhem like Warchus, but no matter how farcical the situation, the superb actors remain anchored in a naturalistic style that keeps the characters' quirks believable.

AMNY A
(Matt Windman) Matthew Warchus, who also directed “God of Carnage” and “Boeing-Boeing,” is truly a master when it comes to staging comedy. And in this absolutely hysterical in-the-round production with an impeccable cast, “The Norman Conquests” turns out to be one of the most rewarding theatrical experiences in an already overstuffed spring season on Broadway.

NYMag A
(Dan Kois) 6 p.m. Living Together, which ends on something of a melancholic note, is weaker than Table Manners. It would be fun to watch a Norman’s Greatest Conquests show collecting the five funniest scenes of the trilogy. It’s the iTunes era; why not customizable theater as well?... 10:15 p.m. As Garden ends, I realize all three plays have already melted in my memory into one delicious theatrical experience—the longueur fading away, the comic high points even funnier in retrospect. Though all of my dates have been suitably entertained, I’m pretty glad I ran the marathon. “I just want to make you happy!” Norman tells his women throughout the trilogy. Bless his ridiculous heart, he did.

The Observer A-
(John Heilpern) The premise of The Norman Conquests is deceptively close to a typically English farce like No Sex Please, We’re British... Still, The Norman Conquests goes beyond the norms of boulevard comedy. Mr. Ayckbourn’s recent Private Fears in Public Places (2004) touchingly reveals the playwright’s real intentions—should there have been any doubt. He’s hilariously serious. His comedies are sly portraits of human folly. But I disagree with those critics who acclaim Mr. Ayckbourn as the British Chekhov. True, Chekhov also wrote comedies set in country houses—but does that make him the Russian Alan Ayckbourn?

New York Post A-
(Elisabeth Vincentelli) A merry British sprite has been sprinkling magic dust all over Broad way. No, it's not Mary Poppins: It's Matthew Warchus. After last season's "Boeing-Boeing" and, more recently, "God of Carnage," the director's just spun comic gold out of another good-not-great play. Warchus' main asset is his sense of the way timing and spatial relationships work together. He's like a chess master mapping his moves several turns in advance, a gift that comes in handy when tackling the intricately plotted "The Norman Conquests."...Warchus understands on a visceral level the seemingly contradictory importance of abandon and precision when drawing laughs: You have to let loose but always remain in control. Here this translates into utmost clarity (you always know who's doing what where) and actorly fireworks.

Talkin' Broadway B+
(Matthew Murray) If you can only swing one play, it should not be Living Together, which it offers the least as an individual entity and derives the most from the happenings in the other plays. If you can manage all three, the Trilogy Day order is tops: Table Manners, then Living Together, and finally Round and Round the Garden. The first is the best at establishing the emotional baseline for events, and the characters' lunch and dinner badinage (punctuated by the most uproarious salad-eating and alcohol-drinking you're ever likely to see onstage) makes it the funniest overall. The second is transitionally written, affectionate, and the most dependent on everyone's comings and goings. The last, containing the earliest and latest scenes in the chronology and the heaviest dollops of sight gags and farcical humor, will resonate louder and longer once you've come to intimately know everyone. That said, The Norman Conquests is no Coast of Utopia. It lacks that work's majesty and sense of once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and because its chapters happen essentially simultaneously rather than sequentially, seeing all three chapters is not that much different than merely seeing one. And although there are some secret pleasures to be had by those who conquer the full trio, they're not exactly powerful, profound, or prurient in any earth-shaking way. You'll leave the theater entertained, but not changed - this is one theatrical outing where the memories don't burn as brightly as the during-the-event moments.

Nytheatre.com B
(Martin Denton) This is absolutely an ensemble piece, and the company that a flock of producers has imported from London's Old Vic Theatre is top-notch and works together brilliantly. My personal favorites are Ben Miles, who plays the ponderous Tom as a man with a slow wit and a good heart, and Paul Ritter, who is utterly convincing and quite likable as lazy, lonely, make-the-best-of-everything Reg. Stephen Mangan is appealingly goofy as Norman, but the more time I spent with his character the more I sensed a manipulative streak that I found unattractive. Amelia Bullmore is spot-on as Ruth, and her adventure with a folding chair in Round and Round the Garden was the highpoint of the trilogy's hilarity for me. I found that I warmed to Jessica Hynes's scruffy, sometimes abrasive Annie more with each new play. But Amanda Root's Sarah didn't always work for me—I thought she missed the authority and rigor of the character, replacing it with a weak whininess that put me off (in Root's defense, I have very fond memories of Penelope Keith's Sarah from the TV version of The Norman Conquests, which I saw quite a few years ago). Rob Howell has given the trilogy a design as ingenious and clever as Ayckbourn's structure for it, and David Howe's lighting and Simon Baker's sound support it beautifully, providing useful clues about where we are within the weekend during any given scene. Gary Yershon's music feels less evocative, though, and the choice to use Nina Simone's cover of "Here Comes the Sun" for exit music, though period-appropriate, puzzled me: I never knew what I was meant to be feeling as I left this crazy family weekend for the relative safety of the Manhattan street.

Newsday C+
(Linda Winer) Are these three plays worth almost eight hours of precious life (not counting breaks) at precious Broadway prices? Based on the 360-degree wraparound of laughter around me, I assume that, for many theatergoers, the investment can bring comparable payoff. For the rest of us, however, this is a heavy commitment for such light entertainment. And, though dots are ingeniously connected by seeing the same relationships lived out in three locations of an English country house, the slim story does not get hefty enough - or the characters, interesting enough - to justify such endurance. Still, it is a pleasure to watch six first-rate actors have their way with the comic hazards of emotional connections on a disaster-filled country weekend.

The Village Voice F
(Michael Feingold) Funny for five minutes, the event's unaffecting pointlessness makes a stupefying seven-hour sit-through. The British cast, under Matthew Warchus's direction, plays it all extremely well; why they or anyone else would bother is the incomprehensible part. The one clue I could garner, from the audience's laughter at certain non-funny moments, is that Ayckbourn makes the ordinary public feel intelligent by showing them how the pieces fit together. That the effort is pointless and the resultant picture uninteresting makes no matter; the busywork of assembling the puzzle is enough. It seems a terrible waste of the theater's resources.

The New York Times A+ 14; Bergen Record A+ 14; American Theater Web A+ 14; Bloomberg News A+ 14; Backstage A+ 14; The Daily News A+ 14; NY1 A+ 14; AP A+ 14; Hollywood Reporter A+ 14; Theatermania A+ 14; CurtainUp A+ 14; Talk Entertainment A+ 14; New Yorker A+ 14; Lighting & Sound America A 13; TONY A 13; USA Today A 13; EW A 13; WSJ A 13; Variety A 13; AMNY A 13; NYMag A 13; The Observer A- 12; New York Post A- 12; Talkin' Broadway B+ 11; Nytheatre.com B 10; Newsday C+ 8; Village Voice F 1; TOTAL: 340/27 = 12.59 (A)

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God of Carnage

GRADE: A-


By Yasmina Reza. Translated by Christopher Hampton. Directed by Matthew Warchus. Bernard Jacobs Theatre.

Consistently strong raves greet Yasmina Reza's brittle, brutal new farce about the thin veneer of bourgeouis civility, with especially high marks going to Matthew Warchus' deft farcical direction, Mark Thompson's sleek set, and the four-member cast. (Note: As of Dec. 9, a new cast reopened in the play, to slightly less stellar reviews; an update post, though not a new grade, appears here.) Several critics lead with the celebrity angle--look, it's Tony Soprano, in a play!--and just as many, while praising James Gandolfini and co-stars Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis, conclude that Marcia Gay Harden, as Gandolfini's pent-up wife, walks away with the show. Though a few find it intellectually as well as theatrically satisfying, even many of the show's admirers are cool to Reza's cynical message and prefab plotting, while the biggest dissenter here, Nytheatre.com's Martin Denton, has a thoroughly original objection to the production's style.

The Star A+
(Richard Ouzounian) Theatre this clever requires consummate teamwork from top to bottom and that's what we get here. Reza's writing (superbly translated from the French by Christopher Hampton) takes us along the road to hell step by step with gossamer skill. Director Matthew Warchus is able to modulate his staging from polite coffee-table banter to full body-press violence and the four cast members – Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden – are all the kind of courageous troupers you would like to have with you on beach at Normandy, as well as on the stage of a hit Broadway show...God of Carnage is that rare play which will not only surprise you and entertain you, but give you plenty to discuss for hours afterwards.

The New Yorker A
(John Lahr) Dark and hilarious...In ninety minutes of sustained mayhem, however, Reza wipes the masks of sang-froid off her whole monstrous regiment and demonstrates just how thin a line lies between civility and barbarity...As Freud tells us in “Civilization and Its Discontents,” we have to repress our infantile aggression in order for civilization to survive. But it’s worth paying top dollar to see those feelings acted out by an expert ensemble. And no bleating about the cruelty of farce, please. As Reza knows and so gleefully shows, without a killing there is no feast.

Associated Press A
(Michael Kuchwara) Hilarious yet surprisingly thoughtful...Reza's play is brief, barely 85 minutes, but it packs a lot into those increasingly heated exchanges. The actors have expertly tapped into Reza's sense of heightened reality, a reality reflected in the production's stylized, red-carpeted living-room set (courtesy of designer Mark Thompson) framed by a blindingly white proscenium...The real revelation of the evening, though, is Harden, usually seen in much more somber roles...Credit for much of the show's giddy forward motion should go to the director. Warchus is something of a Reza expert, having directed many of her English-language productions including "Art," "Life (x) 3" and "The Unexpected Man." But nothing in those previous efforts, prepared us for the almost balletic displays of movement that are on display here.

NY Observer A
(John Heilpern) Ms. Reza...seems to think she’s Jean-Paul Sartre...We’re obliged to distinguish, then, between what the lady is actually doing and what old Jean-Paul called le bullsheet. Fortunately, what Ms. Reza has done with God of Carnage...is to write a welcome boulevard comedy polished to a high gloss by her frequent translator, Christopher Hampton...Thankfully, Ms. Reza makes only fleeting allusion to the tragedy of civil war in Darfur, while her boisterous 85-minute light comedy proves a triumph of escalating farce. The marvelously paced production confirms—if confirmation is needed—the Brit Matthew Warchus as a leading director on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bloomberg News A
(John Simon) What a pleasant surprise to share a walloping good time with the audience at this comedy, whose ferocious title paradoxically reinforces the subtly furibund fun...In best farce tradition, this is an actors’ and director’s holiday. With the text an effective blueprint, director Matthew Warchus and his dazzling cast conjure up a comic war zone where, unexpectedly, enemies morph into allies, married couples into adversaries and attacks, some physical, leave everyone hurt and enraged...The god of comedy is served every bit as well as his colleague of carnage.

The Record A
(Robert Feldberg) Evenings in the theater don't get any funnier than God of Carnage, Yasmina Reza's romp through the weed-filled garden of modern marriage...Matthew Warchus has directed the 90-minute piece brilliantly, capturing each nuance of behavior while also masterfully choreographing the physical chaos. And the cast couldn't be better, with each of the fine actors heartily grabbing the superb material and running with it.

Talkin' Broadway A
(Matthew Murray) Blisteringly outrageous...The seemingly innocuous meeting between four ostensibly level-headed people that almost instantly devolves into catastrophic combat that wreaks havoc on families and psyches is a fiery realization of every civilized person’s unspoken nightmare. But as performed by Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini, and Marcia Gay Harden under Matthew Warchus’s direction, the most maniacally mundane of horrors becomes magically theatrical...Reza and Christopher Hampton, who has translated Reza’s play from the original French, make clear that this story is less about parents and children than about humanity’s inherent violent childishness...It’s astringently serious stuff, but there’s almost nothing heavy-handed about its treatment. Warchus’s staging is frank, but also buoyant and brutal, ebbing and flowing between light and the dark as smoothly as the characters’ moods do.

The New York Times A-
(Ben Brantley) Never underestimate the pleasure of watching really good actors behaving terribly...Examined coldly, this 90-minute play about two couples who meet to discuss a playground fight between two of their children isn’t much more than a sustained Punch and Judy show, dressed to impress with sociological accessories. But there’s a reason that Punch and Judy’s avatars have fascinated audiences for so many centuries in cultural forms low (“The Honeymooners” of 1950s television) and high (Edward Albee’s 1962 drama “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”). “God of Carnage,” which is poised somewhere in between, definitely delivers the cathartic release of watching other people’s marriages go boom...Warchus is the man who transformed the sniggering 1960s sex comedy “Boeing-Boeing” into one of last season’s great delights on Broadway, and I can’t think of another working director who better understands the higher mathematics of farce.

Newsday A-
(Linda Winer) What fun...There isn't a false cue in "God of Carnage," Yasmina Reza's brutally entertaining 85-minute satire that opened last night at the Jacobs Theatre with a four-star quartet of dazzling performers - one of whom happens to be James Gandolfini...Like "Art," Reza's globally successful '90s play about male friendship and modern art, this one is a fast-moving extended sketch that's never much deeper than its big-issue smart-talk veneer. But the French playwright - in another of Christopher Hampton's exquisite translations - cannily manipulates social observations that appeal to vast audiences and creates characters that bring out the best in actors...Less profound than a marriage play by Edward Albee, but much more than a sitcom. It also has the very best scene of projectile vomit since Linda Blair.

The Daily News A-
(Joe Dziemianowicz) It’s sort of a “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” meets “Survivor.” Once rum starts flowing, it gets louder, uglier and funnier. Which isn’t to say that “God” is especially deep. We know people are savages at heart. And Reza relies on creaky devices to push the plot, like convenient calls from Michael’s mom. But working from a shrewd translation by Christopher Hampton, director Matthew Warchus, who staged last season’s rollicking “Boeing-Boeing,” keeps the fur flying and the laughter landing.

Variety A-
(David Rooney) The fanged comedy picks an easy target in the complacent bourgeoisie. But the savagery of its dissection of interpersonal politics--marital, sexual and civic--is played to perfection by a scorching cast in Matthew Warchus' pungent production...Aided by regular translator Christopher Hampton, Reza has crafted tantalizing blueprints for four distinct characters to be fleshed out by a quartet of resourceful actors...All four characters could easily have tipped over into grotesque loathsomeness, but Warchus and his impeccable ensemble make them just pretentious, unfeeling and self-absorbed enough to get under the skin while still sharing traits with most moderately well-heeled New Yorkers...From verbal zingers to sly physical humor, the timing is superb...Like its title, "God of Carnage" is not always the subtlest play; it doesn't go deep and it's not without its repetitive passages. But it's elegant, acerbic and entertainingly fueled on pure bile. It's Reza's sharpest work since "Art."

New York Post A-
(Elisabeth Vincentelli) After making you laugh, though, Yasmina Reza's "God of Carnage" leaves a bitter aftertaste. This Howitzer blast against bourgeois-bohemian hypocrisy could easily be staged as a drama. But it certainly isn't done that way here, and that's just fine it's been a while since Broadway's seen such gleefully nasty fun...As she did in "Art," Reza dissects upper-middle-class foils with precision and a welcome mean streak, but her plays don't amount to all that much once the smoke has cleared...Her dramatic devices aren't all that innovative, either--puking is a cheap way to get a laugh. It's also a diabolically efficient one, especially in the hands of director Matthew Warchus and his expert cast. After "Boeing-Boeing," Britain's Warchus confirms his uncanny command of spatial relations and sleek aesthetics, undoubtedly the most underused weapons in comedy...As for the actors, what glorious pleasure they are.

The Hollywood Reporter A-
(Frank Scheck) A raucously funny boulevard comedy that should prove future catnip to performers during its inevitable lengthy run...The play doesn't really have the heft to sustain its somewhat strained thematic premise. But thanks to witty dialogue and incisive characterizations, it's wonderful fun nonetheless. Matthew Warchus has staged the farcical proceedings to comic perfection, with the physical (and sometimes gross) slapstick humor expertly rendered.

Chicago Tribune A-
(Chris Jones) Savvy and deliciously caustic...Reza is an intentionally slippery and occasionally glib writer who maintains a certain irritating distance from the topical issues she brings up, and "Carnage" will be seen by some as overly pat, opportunist and bourgeoise. It is, to a point. But this is more visceral, more culturally specific, and thus far better, than "Art," a benign soupcon compared with this very cleverly structured and frequently hilarious communal meltdown. Gandolfini—a Meisner-trained actor who leads a terrific, notably spontaneous cast that's deliciously willing and able to react to each other—is, of course, the master of the teddy bear turned viper...The piece remains farcical, yet every middle-age yuppie (in a theater full of them) knows the truth behind the meltdown of two marriages that turns into a vicariously pleasurable battle of the sexes. "God of Carnage" is the ideal comedy for a nasty recession, because it provides us with a cathartic release in an era when we are so mad at so many things but (speaking for myself, anyway) not really in a position to do much about any of them.

American Theatre Web A-
(Andy Propst) A thoughtful premise that can invoke gales of laughter. In Matthew Warchus' stylish production...Reza's quartet of outer borough combatants are impeccably brought to life by four stage and screen veterans...As much fun as there is to be had in "Carnage," the piece has its darker message and there are some questions or issues that it raises that feel under-developed or explored...Overall though, theatergoers will most likely not quibble with the former details as there's just too much fun to be had "Carnage," where four consummate actors are working at the top of their game.

Village Voice B+
(Michael Feingold) Another of those Yasmina Reza plays that, translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Matthew Warchus, have become a kind of commercial-theater tic since the team's big success with Art, which at the time looked like a fresh twist on boulevard entertainment. But now, after three or four trips through Reza's sensibility, we know the pattern too well...What these four inventive actors can do is make the play's chug-chug trip through all the possible permutations of the setup seem natural...The uniformly high quality of their work presumably owes something to Warchus's direction, though apart from Art, his New York track record, as a handler of actors, has been on the dismal side...Maybe it was the simple combination of personalities he cast, since all four are at the top of their form...As for Gandolfini, only two things need be said: Welcome to a comic actor of the very first rank, and why didn't somebody think of casting him as Nathan Detroit?

Backstage B+
(David Sheward) A well-crafted playwriting exercise rather than a believable character study. Early on, Reza plants seemingly insignificant details like time bombs, and they explode later with devastating impact. She also knows exactly how to time a joke for maximum reaction, and she cleverly groups and regroups the combatants in different alliances so you don't always know who is on whose side. Kudos also to Christopher Hampton's adaptation from the original French, which transplants the action to tony Park Slope without any noticeable losses in transit. You can see the wiring in this precision machine, but thanks to a stellar cast and impeccable direction by Matthew Warchus, Carnage is a feast for both actors and audience.

Time Out NY B+
(David Cote) The author's most satisfying work since Art (1998), which also balances her very French tendency to jumble philosophy and farce with a surgical dissection of bourgeois pretension and slippery social identity. Matthew Warchus masterfully stages the work, heeding the playwright's command to eschew strict naturalism and embrace the artificial nature of the action. The characters exist as stock types (Daniels as the callous lawyer and Davis as an icy wealth-management consultant), yet the loopier script convulsions allow for ridiculous (and theatrically bracing) psychological leaps. Framed by Mark Thompson's looming, stylized set (suggesting a modernist-chic abbatoir), this skilled quartet makes wonderful music—part classical harmony, part wilderness howl.

USA Today B+
(Elysa Gardner) Scabrously funny...It's just a matter of time before the meeting devolves into an orgy of verbal and physical brawling — and a showcase for first-rate ensemble acting. Jeff Daniels makes Alan as entertaining as he would be insufferable in real life. James Gandolfini's Michael emerges as his milder, earthier foil, at least until his temper reveals a misguided machismo that would make Tony Soprano squirm. Annette, too, lets her guard down; Hope Davis exquisitely charts her evolution from prim to nauseous to feisty to languorously drunk. As Veronica, the frustrated do-gooder, Marcia Gay Harden manages to be divinely irritating and moving, driving home the redeeming neediness and uncertainty that link humans to more sympathetic life forms.

Lighting and Sound America B+
(David Barbour) Reza isn't so much a playwright as she is a zookeeper, assembling menageries of irritable little beasts and prodding them into displays of bad behavior. In this, she is part of a long and honorable postwar European tradition, including, but not limited to, Jean-Paul Sartre and Luis Bunuel...But she lacks the philosophical framework of a Sartre and the élan and sophistication of such Bunuel film classics as The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. When one of her plays entertains, it's because she's coasting on the talents of collaborators who know how to make high-style mayhem out of her gimlet-eyed observations. This isn't the first time that she has benefitted from a translation by Christopher Hampton and direction by Matthew Warchus, but this may be the most felicitous example of their collaboration...Everyone jumps through the Reza's hoops with superb skill, keeping us amused at their awfulness, while cleverly preventing us from turning away in revulsion...While it may be tempting to dismiss her as a one-trick pony, God of Carnage has a certain stinging relevance.

NY1 B+
(Roma Torre) Not quite a fully realized play, it's an extended situation comedy featuring two couples meeting to discuss a playground fight between their 11-year-old sons...Besides being exceptionally funny, there are several shocking moments in this play that are bound to take you by complete surprise. Reza's message is not terribly original, that beneath our civilized skins, if provoked enough we're all reduced to barbarians...The great joy in this production is in the way these outstanding actors bite into their roles. There's some scenery chewing as well.

AM New York B+
(Matt Windman) Just like Reza’s hit play “Art,” God of Carnage” makes for 90 well-crafted, extremely enjoyable minutes of theater brimming with black comedy plus critical examinations of shallow bourgeois etiquette. But what really drives this production is director Matthew Warchus (“Boeing-Boeing”), who orchestrates pitch-perfect comic timing among his absolutely excellent quartet of actors...Bottom line: “God of Carnage” is a genuine crowd-pleaser. All of the comedic elements are in place and the cast cannot be better. Among the many celeb-driven plays now opening en masse, this savage social comedy is definitely worth catching.

Los Angeles Times B
(Charles McNulty) Even more puncturing of bourgeois self-regard than “Art”...It’s also just as sleekly schematic, the action efficiently distilled to make a big cynical point about those most pompously self-deluding creatures known as Homo sapiens...Fortunately, the presence of four of the more theatrically talented members of the species...adds diverse personality to a work that is très- très -français in its marriage of mechanical boulevard comedy and abstract drama of ideas...“God of Carnage” may have the feel of a play in which characters have no choice but to fall in line with their playwright’s nihilistic manipulations, but with actors this ferociously robust, human nature seems to have its own incorrigible agenda.

Theatermania B
(David Finkle) There are several things wrong with Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage...But almost none of those flaws ultimately matters much, because the soigne yet knockabout comedy at the Bernard B. Jacobs is simply too entertaining from fade-in to inconclusive fade-out, especially as sleekly translated by Reza's usual go-to guy, Christopher Hampton, well directed by Matthew Warchus, and beautifully performed by four top-drawer actors...[Reza's] message that rational human behavior is no more than a thin veneer over animal urges may not be true of us all...So what if Reza is on a soapbox about humanity's weak underpinnings? The bubbles rising from the soap are buoyant.

New York B-
(Scott Brown) Why does God of Carnage, for all its witty anarchy and farcical cheek, feel a little flabby in the gut, a little punch-drunk and glass-jawed—and, even at 85 minutes, a little padded? Maybe because it’s all too easy. This fight feels fixed: the punches telegraphed, the reversals rehearsed. The cozy bassinet of gentrified Brooklyn (where child-rearing is art form, fashion statement, and blood sport, all in one) is about as big a bull’s-eye as the boulevard affords...Even the casting feels too perfect, as if calculated by some Netflix algorithm...Despite repeated references to Darfur and the ICC, Reza doesn’t really have the stomach for a blood-feast: Try as she might, she lacks Mamet’s misanthropy...Reza toys with something primal and sanguinary, but what she’s prepared to deliver is a puggle-on-puggle dogfight, played out in the safe precincts of Prospect Park. The results are curious, pathetic, often amusing, but nothing, really, is at stake.

Nytheatre.com B-
(Martin Denton) Very funny for a while, but starts to feel like meanness about halfway in...Warchus has cast four more-than-competent dramatic actors—James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden as the Vallons, Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis as the Raleighs—in roles that seem to cry out for outsized clowns. Reza's tragedy is diminished to sitcom ordinariness: it functions, but it doesn't attain the level of grandeur that I think it deserves...This is exacerbated by Warchus's slow, naturalistic staging, which is punctuated with many long, awkward pauses...There is much that's resonant to take away from God of Carnage...But when I left the theatre, I felt that I hadn't seen the play's true potential realized.

The Star A+ 14; The New Yorker A 13; Associated Press A 13; NYO A 13; Bloomberg News A 13; The Record A 13; Talkin' Broadway A 13; The New York Times A- 12; Newsday A- 12; The Daily News A- 12; Variety A- 12; New York Post A- 12; The Hollywood Reporter A- 12; Chicago Tribune A- 12; American Theatre Web A- 12; VV B+ 11; Backstage B+ 11; Time Out NY B+ 11; USA Today B+ 11; LS&A B+ 11; NY1 B+ 11; AM New York B+ 11; Los Angeles Times B 10; Theatermania B 10; NY mag B- 9; Nytheatre.com B- 9; TOTAL: 303/26=11.65 (A-)

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Boeing-Boeing

GRADE: B-

By Marc Camoletti, Translated by Beverley Cross and Francis Evans. Directed by Matthew Warchus. (CLOSED)

Boeing-Boeing gets no middle-ground reviews; critics either loved or hated it. Most of them agree on one thing: Boeing-Boeing—the French sex farce about a rake juggling three airline stewardesses and the country bumpkin who comes to visit him in Paris—doesn't have a great script. It's a bit dated, a bit tired, and more than a bit shallow. What they disagree about is whether or not Matthew Warchus' production lifts it up to the heavens on giddy farcical wings or crashes it into the ground. NOTE: Every review, positive or negative, references the cast and their impact on the material. A few of the cast members have changed, with Greg Germann taking over for Bradley Whitford. Tony winner Mark Rylance remains in the show, as does Christine Baranski.

The Star-Ledger A
(Michael Sommers) The door-slamming, furniture-jumping, fall-on-the-floor doings of farcical comedy are not to all tastes, of course, so anyone disliking this theatrical genre can skip Boeing-Boeing.. Everybody else better tape their ribs to prevent fractures from laughing so furiously at the madness galloping across the stage of the handsomely renovated Longacre Theatre, where a giddy revival of "Boeing-Boeing" opened yesterday.

NYTimes A-
(Ben Brantley) You see, the appeal of “Boeing Boeing” is the very opposite of what you might expect. It’s not smutty at all. It’s deliciously, deliriously innocent. I haven’t felt so much like a child, while watching a sex comedy, since I was, well, a very young child, taken by his mother to the Billy Wilder movie Some Like It Hot. Like Wilder’s masterpiece this production levitates low burlesque into high comedy. In a generous act of alchemy Mr. Warchus and company have distilled pure pleasure from an impure source.

TheaterMania A-
(David Finkle) Imagine going into a kitchen, gathering together no ingredients whatsoever and from that vacuum producing a perfect soufflé. In a manner of speaking, that's what director Matthew Warchus and a cast of six expert comic actors have achieved with Boeing-Boeing, Marc Camoletti's boulevard farce that stuck around for only 23 performances when it was first done here in 1965. This time, the side-splitting treat should keep laughter-seeking audiences besides themselves with glee for at least 230 performances -- and maybe even 2,300.

NY Daily News A-
(Joe Dziemianowicz) At certain points, the comedy becomes very broad, almost ridiculous. But it's such a blast, you don't care. Credit goes to director Matthew Warchus, whose jet-propelled production is filled with fantastic performances.

Time Out NY B+
(David Cote) Is the 1962 French farce Boeing-Boeing, in which a philandering architect juggles three air-hostess girlfriends, irredeemably misogynist? Or is its nesting of adolescent desire in a clockwork structure a subtle critique of the phallocentric mechanization of late-capitalist Western sexuality? Who the hell cares?!? This is silly, sexy, supersonic fun.

Variety B+
(David Rooney) OK, so it's not exactly Moliere, but the breakneck pacing, the agonizing, close-call timing of all the comings and goings, the escalating outrageousness and the cast's breezy charms make it impossible not to be swept along. And while it usually requires more verbal complexity than physical dexterity to sustain this kind of featherweight comedy, Warchus and the ensemble do a remarkable job of keeping things at cruise speed for 2½ hours with no discernable lags.

Newsday D
(Linda Winer) I hate to be a buzz kill. But "Boeing-Boeing," the 1962 farce that was made into a dimwit 1965 movie with Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis, opened last night, and I don't have a clue to explain the genuine mirth around me...Despite a dreamy hoot of a performance by Mark Rylance (the only holdover from the Brit cast), the director's comic philosophy is rooted in the bellowing, jumping around, hitting-with-a-beanbag-chair school of humor.

NY Post D-
(Clive Barnes) When I saw this revival, staged by Matthew Warchus and designed by Rob Howell, in London last summer, I thought it was terrible, but Rylance had already left the cast, and I was assured by some that he had made a terrific difference. He does make a terrific difference. And it's still terrible - as repetitious and as tedious as a flea circus.

Bloomberg D-
(Jeremy Gerard) Director Matthew Warchus belabors the point with some painfully anachronistic battle-of-the-sexes stage business. Seventy minutes had passed before his production finally lifted off with anything resembling comic energy. Then the first-act curtain fell and the tedious spring-winding started up all over again.

Star-Ledger A 13; NYTimes A- 12; TheaterMania A- 12; NY Daily News A- 12; TONY B+ 11; Variety B+ 11; Newsday D 4; NYPost D- 3; Bloomberg D- 3; TOTAL = 81 / 9 = 9 = B-

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