God of Carnage - meet director Christopher Dykton

What were you trying to accomplish with the telling of this play, God of Carnage?
God of Carnage follows in the literary traditions of black comedy and satire. This biting, funny, and very disturbing piece sees two sets of parents, Alan and Annette Raleigh and Michael and Veronica Novak, meet to discuss and work out a resolution when their sons get into a fight.  What happens next is that we find out that the parents are worse than the kids in dealing with each other.  It looks at a classic theme of handling conflict with civility and explores how close we are to absolute, rude barbarism in our social interactions as manners and decency disappear when we aren't getting what we want or we are just plain having a bad day.

What were the challenges as a director?
There's a psychological darkness for each of the four characters that is partnered with humor and physical comedy.  Working with actors to go to these dark places and twist it with comedy is a big challenge for me as a director.  What's needed, of course, are four actors at the top of their craft.  I'm lucky to have them in this production with Allison, Chuck, Jack, and Karen.

What should the audience take away from this play?
I think this play gives a chance to look at how we behave at times in not the best way, while at the same time allowing us to laugh at ourselves.  We know that underneath our social self is that Neanderthal waiting to pop out.

Info and tickets: www.thelittletheatre.com