The upcoming Cawston Players production of God of Carnage is a change from the successful round of light comedies.
“This one is called a comedy of manners without manners, which is to say that the laughs have a hard edge,” said play director, Dave Cursons.
The play is about a sit down chat between two sets of parents following playground violence between their young sons. Their awkward efforts to come to terms go awry and the meeting goes, well, ballistic.
It may not be suitable for sensitive ears.
The Cawston Players are a community theatre company and the members all have day jobs.
Eben McKiblin, a builder, has lately appeared in Boeing-Boeing, Hotel Bethlehem and Barely Heirs. He was the sheriff in a very early Cawston Players production of The Death and The Life of Sneaky Fitch.
Melissa Marr, an orchardist is with the players for her fourth year and gave us both The Spirit of Christmas Past and Present in Christmas Chaos and a Wise Person in Hotel Bethlehem.
Morris Holmes is a garlic farmer and new to the valley but no newcomer to the stage with extensive acting experience with Stage North Theatre in Fort St John. He was the sardonic shepherd teamed up with John Butcher in Hotel Bethlehem.
From the Maritimes and formal stage training in Quebec, Amanda Elyzen is a winemaker and has had three years directing for the players. Amanda played Gretchen in Boeing-Boeing, the prospective heiress in Barely Heirs and the harried Stage Director in Christmas Chaos.
Stage manager for the Cawston Players, Louise Giguere, an orchard worker, has ably taken charge behind the scenes since the days of Christmas Chaos.
Cursons has been with the Cawston Players from the start with nearly 50 years of community theatre involvement on the Coast, Okanagan, Kootenays and Similkameen.
God of Carnage is onstage at The Cawston Community Hall April 10, 11 and 12. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Curtain is 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 at Cawston Marketplace and Similkameen Agencies.