A Study Guide presented by San Jose Repertory Theatre For more information, contact Karen Altree Piemme, Director of Outreach [email protected] or 408.367.7291 BY YASMINA REZA TRANSLATED BY MARCH 22-APRIL 15, 2012 CHRISTOPHER HAMPTON 1 Table of Contents SYNOPSIS Synopsis...........................................1 About the Playwright……...….2 A COMEDY ABOUT MANNERS, WITHOUT MANNERS Yasmina Reza Interview….....3-5 This sharp-edged comedy takes us on a rollercoaster ride to Anger Management……...... 6-7 twisted depths and hilarious contradictions when "grown-ups" Spartacus……………...…….8-9 are called upon to tidy up children’s messes. Two sets of par- Drug Recalls....………….….....10 ents try to put their best foot forward to deal with the after- Pharmaceutical Lawsuits...11-13 math of a playground altercation between their sons. But any Clafoutis………………….......14 attempt at having a civilized conversation quickly devolves in- Overparenting…………...15-19 to a hysterical night of name calling, 9nger-pointing and Discussion Questions….....20-21 throwing things. The men gang up on the women, the women gang up on the men, and what begins as a calm, rational de- Further Research……...….….22 bate among adults becomes a journey into the heart of human chaos and savage instinct. “Never underestimate the pleasure of watching really good actors behaving terribly.” -New York Times 1 About the Playwright Yasmina Reza was born in 1959 to parents who were both of Jewish origin — her father Works by Yasmina Reza Iranian, her mother Hungarian. At the beginning of her career, Reza acted in Plays several new plays as well as in plays by both Molière and Marivaux. • Conversations après un enterrement (Conversations After a Burial ), 1987 In 1987 she wrote Conversations after a Buri- al, which won the Molière Award (the • La Traversée de l’hiver French equivalent of the Laurence Olivier (Winter Crossing ), 1989 Award or the Tony Award) for Best Author. • ‘ART’ 1994 Following this, she translated Kafka's The Metamorphosis for Roman Polanski and was • L’Homme du hasard nominated for a Molière Award for Best (The Unexpected Man ), 1995 Translation. • Trois versions de la vie (Life X 3 ), 2000 Her second play, Winter Crossing , won the • Une pièce espagnole (A Spanish Play ), 2004 1990 Molière Award for Best Fringe Produc- tion, and her next play The Unexpected Man , • Le Dieu du Carnage (God of Carnage ), 2006 enjoyed successful productions in England, France, Scandinavia, Germany and New York. Novels In 1995, 'Art' premiered in Paris and went on to win the Molière Award for Best Author. Since then it has been produced worldwide and translated and per- • Hammerklavier ,1997 formed in over 30 languages. The London production, produced by David • Une désolation (Desolation ), 1999 Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, received the 1996–97 Laurence Olivier Award and Evening Standard Award. It also won the Tony Award for Best Play. Life X 3 has • Adam Haberberg , 2003 also been produced in Europe, North America and Australia. Screenwriting credits include See You Tomorrow , starring Jeanne Moreau and directed by Re- • Nulle part , 2005 za's then-partner Didier Martiny. • Dans la luge d'Arthur Schopenhauer (On In September 1997, her 9rst novel, Hammerklavier , was published and another Arthur Schopenhauer's Sledge ), 2005 work of 9ction, Une Désolation , was published in 2001. Her 2007 work L'Aube le • L'Aube le soir ou la nuit , 2007 Soir ou la Nuit (Dawn Evening or Night ), written after a year of following the campaign of Nicolas Sarkozy caused a sensation in France. Screenplays On 24 November 2007 her play Le Dieu du Carnage (God of Carnage ), directed by Jürgen Gosch and performed 9rst in Zürich, received the Viennese Nestroy- • Jusqu'à la nuit , ( Till Night ) 1983 (she also Theatreprize for the best German-language performance of the season. It acted in this) opened in London in March 2008, directed by Matthew Warchus in a transla- tion by Christopher Hampton starring Ralph Fiennes, Tamsin Greig, Janet • Le pique-nique de Lulu Kreutz (Lulu Kreutz's McTeer and Ken Stott. It was produced once again by David Pugh and Dafydd picnic ), 2000 Rogers. The London production won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New • Carnage , 2011 Comedy, which Hampton accepted on her behalf. Hampton told the audience that Reza would be thrilled by the win. The play premiered on Broadway with an opening night cast of James Gandol9ni, JeN Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden, and Hope Davis. God of Carnage won Best Play at the 2009 Tony Awards. It has since been turned into a 9lm entitled, simply, Carnage , which was directed by Roman Polanski (having been adapted by Reza and Polanski) and starred Jodi Foster, Kate Winslet, Christopher Waltz and John C. Reilly. 2 Interview with the Playwright Yasmina Reza: 'There's no point in comic and uncomfortable consequences. writing theatre if it's not accessible' In London, where the play had its premiere in 2008 (following a trans- lation by Reza's long-time collaborator, Christopher Hampton), it was a Yasmina Reza's 2008 play God of Carnage was a critical and commercial success. In the Guardian , Michael Billington worldwide hit. Here she talks about working with hailed Reza as "a born satirist"; others proclaimed themselves director Roman Polanski on the 9lm adaptation and "delighted by her incisive observation" and "shrewd humour". It the year she spent with Nicolas Sarkozy scooped an Olivier for best new play and when God of Carnage trans- By Elizabeth Day ferred to Broadway in 2009, it won a Tony and became the third- The Observer, Saturday 21 January 2012 longest-running production of the decade. The Polanski 7lm, called simply Carnage , is remarkably faithful to the In late 2005, playwright Yasmina Reza was approached by a German original. Despite the setting having been transferred from Paris to theatre director who wanted to commission a new work from her. "I Brooklyn, much of the dialogue remains and the bulk of the action said, 'No, I'm tired, I've got too much on; I don't want to do it,'" Reza takes place within four, claustrophobic apartment walls. says, sitting in the corner of a darkened hotel bar in her native Paris. She gives a dismissive 6ap of her hand, as if reliving the refusal. But "I realised everything transposed immediately from Paris to Brooklyn," then, something happened to change her mind. says Reza, who adapted the screenplay with Polanski. "We wrote it in French 7rst but he wanted to do it with English actors because he was "There was a little incident in the life of my son," she says, re7lling her more at ease with that. So he translated it." cup of herbal tea from an Oriental-style teapot as she talks. "He was then about 13 or 14 and his friend was in a 7ght with another friend; It is the 7rst time 52-year-old Reza has given permission for one of her they exchanged blows and my son's friend had his tooth broken. A few plays to be adapted for the big screen. Art , the play she wrote in 1994 days later, I met with the mother of this boy in the street. I asked her and for which she is best known, has been translated into more than 30 how her son was, if he was better, because I knew they'd had to do languages, grossed almost £200m worldwide and won the theatre something to the tooth – they'd had to operate or something. And she world's triple crown: the French Molière award, the British Olivier said, 'Can you imagine? The parents [of the other boy in the 7ght] award and, in a 7rst for a non-English-language piece, the American didn't even call me.'" Tony award. Reza looks at me steadily, brown eyes unblinking, as if to underline the Four more sell-out plays have followed, including Life x 3 . Audiences gravity of the situation. But then her mouth twitches at the corner and 6ocked to theatres on both sides of the Channel. In France, a country in she breaks out into a wide grin. which commercial success in the arts is frequently equated with crea- tive failure, Reza none the less became a star. The daily newspaper "It was suddenly, click! I thought, 'This is an incredible theme.'" She Libération once compared the media circus surrounding the production almost bounces on her chair at the memory, her hair swishing as of one of her plays to the release of the latest Harry Potter. though mirroring her enthusiasm. "So I asked the Germans if it was still possible to do a play and they said, 'It's possible, but you have to She says she has been "inundated" by requests from 7lm-makers who do it by April.'" want to adapt her work, all of which she had refused until now. So why say yes this time? Reza then wrote the entire thing in three months. "No method," she says blithely. "I just wrote it." "Polanski," she replies without hesitation. "I adore him." It is not the 7rst time the two of them have joined forces – Reza translated Polan- The resulting work was Le Dieu du carnage (God of Carnage ), one of the ski's stage version of Kafka's Metamorphosis in the late 1980s at his most popular and acclaimed plays of the last 10 years, which has seen request – but I wonder if she had any scruples about working with him several theatrical productions and has now been made into a 7lm either time. "Scruples?" she asks, apparently mysti7ed. Yes, did she feel directed by Roman Polanski, starring Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, uncomfortable about the fact that Polanski is wanted in the States on John C Reilly and Jodie Foster as warring, middle-class couples who six criminal counts, including the rape of a 13-year-old girl (as a result meet to discuss their children's playground 7ght.