There is no question that the theme of the rise of televangelism and the extremism of religious zealots is a timely subject.  In a time when free speech has been mutated by the government to mean “as long as you don’t question or denounce our war or our leaders since we have moral high ground,” reviving this 1987 play by Tim Robbins and Adam Simon seems appropriate.  Carnage is performed by The Actors’ Gang at the Ivy Substation in Culver City.
V. J. Foster pours his heart and soul into the role of Pentecostal televangelist Cotton Slocum who draws in his supporters by means of hopeful, if blind, charisma.  Donna Jo Thorndale beautifully plays Tipper, Slocum’s smiling, devoted, yet thoroughly manipulative wife.  They are joined by colorful followers:  Slocum’s assistant Jerry, played by Stephen M. Porter, Lindsley Allen and Scott Harris, who play overwhelmed devotees, and Justin Zsebe who embodies both the preacher in training as well as the “soothsaying” rabbit Foo Foo. The play’s music is exceptional and Cameron Dye provides an effective respite in the piece as Bob, the gas station attendant.
The cast excels in their craft; during the first act as Foster uses the theater audience as Slocum’s church viewers, we feel as if we’re inside the church, yet we’re able to see its absurdities.  These outlandish characters are engaged in an intense and controversial message.  Director Beth M. Milles has choreographed a superb cast.
The play portrays the hypocrisy of religious and military institutions and how greed and self-interest prey upon the compassion, naiveté and weakness of others.  Stephanie Carrie genuinely plays the hopeful devotee Dot, whose husband, Ralph, played by Chris Schultz, is a drunk prone to violence.  She listens and blindly follows the gospel of “obey and don’t ask questions,” believing that her husband would stop being violent if he followed the Faith.  When he does turn to “Faith” in the end, it’s become rooted in a quality that doesn’t work for Dot.   In effect, both Dot and Ralph deal with their life by escaping – she turns to Slocum and his church dogma, and he turns to the bottle and violence.   The characters in Carnage are drawn as caricatures, as superficial people, in denial of everything that doesn’t fit the mold they currently cling to.
The unexpected bomb blast at the end of the first act derails Slocum’s plans to complete a prayer walk and secure the money to complete God’s Happy Acres.  Considering that today religion is used to justify war, torture, and the invasion of individual rights, I would have liked to see more layering of the military/religious tie-in aspect of this piece.  We see how easily people are duped because they blindly follow a faith rather than take responsibility and think for themselves.   The divisiveness caused by religious fervor speaks directly to its hypocrisy. 
There is no self-reflection in any of the characters.  It would appear that Slocum may be self-reflective after the blast; however, he still clings blindly to versions of dogma and, between bouts of hallucinogenic fits, still grasps for what’s out there rather than turning inward.  In the second act, Tack has taken Slocum’s church and, using the same tactics, put a different spin on it.  Under Slocum, the church was cheery and smiley regardless of what was happening – a concept also represented by the accident victim family Slocum runs into while aimlessly wandering the desert. The father of the victim-family, brilliantly played by Steven Porter, goes about buying and selling stocks and cheerfully conversing, despite his severed arm and the demise of his family. 

After Slocum’s disappearance, the church, now under Tack, has turned away from using hope as its lure to using fear to instill allegiance.  Tack’s monologue toward the end of the play is much too long.  The point of his speech was received in the first minute or so, although well delivered, the rest felt redundant.  The length lessened its impact.   In the same vein, the continuous stream of evangelical verve throughout the play may have felt less singular after a certain point if it had been more condensed and offered some contrast throughout. 

Although the play is full of rich soil, this viewer felt that considering the strength of talent of its creators as well as its cast, it fell a bit short of expectation.  


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