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Pristine design sets atmosphere for ‘God of Carnage’

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January 06, 2012|By Patti Hartigan

Scenic designer Dane Laffrey (left) and director Daniel Goldstein on the… (BARRY CHIN/GLOBE STAFF )

A few months ago, director Daniel Goldstein and scenic designer Dane Laffrey went prowling around the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn, peering in windows like a pair of peeping Toms. They deliberately set out at night so they could see inside the elegant townhouses in the tony neighborhood, which is known as much for its opulence as for its family-friendly environment. They tried to keep a low profile as they cased the area and stole glimpses of the rarefied artwork and the exquisite furnishings inside other people’s homes.

As suspicious as it might have appeared, the surveillance was all in the name of research for “God of Carnage,’’ Yasmina Reza’s popular comedy that begins a monthlong run tonight at the Huntington Theatre Company - one week before Roman Polanski’s movie adaptation, “Carnage,’’ opens here.

The play, originally set in Paris but relocated to Brooklyn in Christopher Hampton’s translation for American productions, centers on two sets of parents who get together after their teenage sons have had a nasty brawl. The meeting is ostensibly about making peace, but instead, the characters destroy each other - along with an enormous vase of tulips, some rare art monographs, and a cellphone. Even a pet hamster meets its unlikely end. These seemingly civilized people behave like primitive creatures and tear each other to pieces, along with their surroundings.

The creative team felt it was critical to devise a pristine environment. “Every pile of books aches with, you know, anal retentiveness and OCD,’’ Laffrey says. “It has to be completely perfect. You have to establish that formality to be able to destroy it.’’

The late-night snooping in Brooklyn was just the beginning of the design process. Laffrey spent hours and hours in ABC Carpet and Home, a home furnishing store in Manhattan that features the highest of the high end. He trolled real estate websites, examining photos of Brooklyn brownstones and comparing prices. Townhouses start at around $4 million and can go as high as $10 million, depending on the size and condition. He discovered that size matters. The wider the unit, the greater the prestige. “One foot of width in a townhouse adds a million dollars,’’ he says. “Imagine your friends coming in and saying, ‘Oh, it’s so wide in here.’ ’’