Behind the Chaos: Actor Lainie Hart on the ‘delicious’ ride of God of Carnage

Posted on 27 August, 2025

Seeing children wreaking havoc? That’s child’s play. Now imagine four grown adults, a shattered tulip vase, a diplomatic incident, and…well…vomit.

Welcome to the gloriously uncivilised world of God of Carnage, Yasmina Reza’s Tony Award-winning comedy of manners that rapidly descends into a no-holds-barred comedy of errors. And in Echo Theatre’s brilliant new production, this explosive showdown isn’t happening in a chic Brooklyn apartment but unfolding right here in Canberra.

At the heart of the storm is Canberran actor Lainie Hart, playing Annette, a woman whose polished, professional exterior is about to be spectacularly cracked. As the production prepares to open at The Q in Queanbeyan on Friday 29 August before touring regional New South Wales with Arts on Tour, we spoke with Lainie about the thrill of the play’s descent into chaos and why its setting in the nation’s capital is a stroke of genius.

“It all starts very polite and socially constrained,” Lainie explains, setting the scene for the uninitiated.

“Two sets of parents meet for a civilised conversation about an incident between their children. But the entire play happens in real time, over about 75 minutes, and it’s a complete unravelling. They totally fall off the cliff.”

This shift from diplomacy to carnage feels particularly apt for a Canberra setting, a choice Lainie finds deeply insightful.

“There’s a specific Canberra politeness to it,” she notes.

“You know, you don’t ambush anyone. You’d speak to someone about an issue privately first, then perhaps cautiously add it to the agenda. It’s that careful, well-regulated way of navigating conflict. These characters are the epitome of that…and we get to push every single one of their buttons.”

Her character, Annette, begins as the portrait of composure. She’s a successful professional adept at negotiating male-dominated spaces. But the pressure of the evening forces a seismic shift.

“The initial challenge is playing that repression,” Lainie reveals.

“She’s trying to watch and listen, to not poke the bear. There’s so much going on inside that she isn’t saying. But once she starts, it’s a liberation. I absolutely think a part of her enjoys the chaos. There’s a moment where she starts drinking rum and declares she’s ‘starting to feel normal’. That’s her finally letting it go.”

Staging such precise chaos – including the play’s infamous moments of physical comedy –requires military-like coordination.

“It’s all meticulously choreographed, first for safety – you have to make sure no one takes a knee to the head! But once that’s in our bones, it becomes a living, breathing organism. That’s the magic of theatre; you discover something new each night. You bring in those real, raw feelings we all have.”

She points to a moment from her own life to explain that primal trigger.

“I was at my Godchild’s soccer game, and when they got hurt, that switch just flipped. It’s that instantaneous, protective fury when someone has threatened your child. That’s the raw, universal place we’re tapping into. It stops being just comedy and starts feeling terrifyingly real.”

It’s this translation of relatable emotion into high-stakes comedy that she finds most exhilarating.

“The most enjoyable part is that it’s like a sitcom. It’s a play about ordinary people in a very understandable but incredibly tense situation,” she says. “The emotions are so relatable to real life. The experience of going from being polite and managing your manners to just letting rip and letting loose is where the great hilarity and catharsis is. It’s actually really liberating.”

And what’s surprising is how such chaos can unite and disperse different allegiances in an instant. That was one thing Lainie discovered in rehearsals that caught her off guard.

“It’s been interesting discovering how fluid the alliances are,” she reveals. “All the characters, they sort of divide and conquer throughout the play. You align with your spouse, then with the other husband, and so on. It’s all about those allegiances and alliances you form in a social situation when you think your husband is on your side…but then there are these crossovers. It’s constantly shifting on a dime. You see these relationships disintegrate and reform in the most surprising ways.”

This volatile shifting of loyalties is what makes the play so unpredictable and thrilling to watch, a mirror to the way real-life conflicts can pit unexpected allies against each other. But while the play explores the breakdown of civility, the act of taking it on tour is a celebration of community and connection.

Lainie’s enthusiasm for the upcoming regional tour extends beyond the stage, rooted in a profound belief in theatre’s power to connect.

“Live theatre has taken such a knock since COVID, and it’s something so precious because it happens in the here and now, just like life; it demands we be present,” she reflects. “That shared, immediate experience is absolutely worth people’s time and effort.”

This conviction fuels the practical joys of life on the road, where the cast becomes a conduit for community.

“There’s a lovely rhythm to finding the good coffee and the great op shops in each new town,” she says. “With Arts on Tour, we even create a tour guide with recommendations for each venue. We share those little discoveries with each other and pass them on. It helps you get used to a place and keeps you on your toes.”

In this way, the entire endeavour, from the grand themes on stage to the simple quest for a good coffee, becomes a single, unified act of connection.

It is this unique blend of the profound and the playful that makes the entire experience so memorable for her. So, after all the staged arguments, the flying tulips, and the shifting alliances, how does she sum it all up?

She laughs, “Asking for one word is so hard!”

She pauses, then finds the perfect fit: “Delicious”

“The humanity of it and the mad hilarity. Because it’s 75 minutes that happens in real time, it’s just this incredible rush. A great ride from start to finish.”

Photography: David Hooley Photography.