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KW writes:
As you may have heard, on Saturday night, a car bomb was found – before it detonated – in Times Square, New York City, in the theater district. (Story at Daily News: here.)
Now, that everyone is safe, may I share an amusing irony that I discovered in looking into this…
One of the shows that did go on that night, but was a half hour late, was “God of Carnage”. When I saw that title, I had to look into it, thinking it was at least ironic, or maybe the play had some war message that whoever was creating the bomb was truly responding to. Now, that play does have a character interested in Darfur. But, overall, it seems to be a comedy of manners about sexism, racism, and how it plays out in child-rearing. It is by French playwright Yasmina Reza.
And, I did find a very interesting note from Wikipedia. It turns out that there was another time when the play “God of Carnage” was affected by external forces. Wikipedia notes a 2008 incident on opening night:
“God of Carnage opened in the West End at the Gielgud Theatre on 25 March 2008…On the opening night of the performance, there was a power cut about an hour into the show. The show therefore had to continue in emergency lighting.”
At Wikipedia, it notes, that in order to avoid a theatrical curse, no one is allowed to say “Macbeth” inside a theater. Instead they say “the Scottish play”. Perhaps actors and theatre-goers now need to refer to Yasmina Reza’s comedy of manners as “the French play”?
Filed under: Art, News Tagged: | bomb, Broadway, Comedy, God of Carnage, Live theatre, Macbeth, new york city, racism, Theater curses, Theater District, Times Square, Yasmina Reza
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