We all need to laugh, so head to Framingham’s Amazing Things Arts Center for the hilarious God of Carnage, by Yazmina Reza (translated by Christopher Hampton), July 13-22.  Affordable tickets, free parking, and laughter therapy!

This fast-paced comedy, which won both the Tony and Olivier Awards in 2009 for best play, is a comedy of manners ...without the manners.  After a playground altercation between two eleven-year-old boys, the boys' parents meet to sort out the fight in a civilized manner. As the rum flows, the gloves come off and the night becomes a side-splitting free-for-all, leaving the couples with more than just their liberal principles in tatters.

The Amazing Things production features Lexington’s Cliff Blake as Michael Novak. Cliff was excited to work on this well-crafted, award-winning play and finds his role a lot of fun: “you have the task of unveiling your character’s layers and depth over the course of a brief encounter, and the importance of body language and timing are heightened. Amazing Things’ intimate environment is ideal for this play – you can see the nuances of the facial expressions and body language.”  He predicts that the play will make you laugh, but also make you think.  Cliff likes the play’s “Frenchness” – it was originally written in French and notes that audiences can experience something French without having to read subtitles!  

Cliff became an actor (and a playwright and songwriter) after an advertising career.  His favorite roles have an everyman quality.  (Jack Lemmon, who mastered the everyman, is his favorite actor.) George in Same Time Next Year (with Lida McGirr, also in Carnage) at Amazing Things, was especially fun, since the characters age 25 years during the play.  Other favorites include Joe in Working, and bringing to life his sweet, subtle loneliness; Bruce in Beyond Therapy and Greg in Sylvia, with poignancy amidst the laughs; Lenny in Rumours, with the challenge of precision timing and inventive physical comedy; George in Of Mice and Men because of the vulnerability beneath his bravado; Atticus in To Kill a Mockingbird with the challenge of making that iconic character more real; and John in Oleanna.  He also enjoyed playing Claudius in Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and intermingling four roles in MacBeth.

The Framingham production also features Lis Adams as Veronica Novak, Lida McGirr as Annette Raleigh, and Webb Tilney as Alan Raleigh.

WHAT: GOD OF CARNAGE – comedy

WHEN: July 13, 14, 20, & 21 at 8PM; July 15 & 22 at 2PM

WHERE: Amazing Things Arts Center, 160 Hollis St. /Rt. 126, Framingham

The show is recommended for mature audiences.  Tickets are $18 ($17 for students & seniors, $15 for members).  For tickets and directions, go to www.amazingthings.org or call 508-405-ARTS (2787).  Directed by Sandy Clifford; produced by Susan Lanspery. 

Don't just take our word for it.... 

•  “A familiar comic journey from A to B, but it travels first class.’’ - New York Times
• “Elegant, acerbic and entertainingly fueled on pure bile. Reza's sharpest work since ‘Art.’ ” –Variety
• “[Reza] cannily manipulates social observations that appeal to vast audiences and creates characters that bring out the best in actors.” -NY Newsday