No need for us to scream in ‘God of Carnage’

We’re in Singapore and back in the Novaks’ living room in the play “God of Carnage.”

My family and I flew on a clear Tuesday evening out of Los Angeles, following a two-hour drive from San Diego. We could’ve left Southern California a day earlier but my husband and I, being ardent fans of (the video game) “Assassin’s Creed,” waited for the release of the franchise’s newest installments, “Assassin’s Creed III: Revelations” for the Xbox 360, and “Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation” for the PSP Vita.

Before finally leaving LA, our group headed to Umami Burger in Santa Monica (hands down, one of the best burgers ever). Back in Manila, we headed home, where I stayed for only about six hours before it was time to head back to Naia 2 for my flight to The Lion City.

Pick-up rehearsal

Our first pick-up rehearsal for “Carnage” was set the following day with director Bobby Garcia and all other actors in the cast—Adrian Pang, Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo and Art Acuña.

Production manager Liza Camus and stage manager Bernice Aspillaga-Cañete were present, with associate stage manager Ace Urieta and our Singapore crew.

For starters, Bobby instructed us to just get the words back in our heads. We didn’t have to use props. We ended up doing a stumble-through of the whole show, along with much of our blocking.

Bernice kept an eye on the script. We did have a few hiccups, but no train wrecks. I don’t think any of us expected the morning run to go as well as it did. That afternoon, we did another run, with the complete set of props, and Ace tutoring his Singaporean counterpart.

Another two runs were set for the next day, and with each run the hiccups would get less and less. I’m not sure how this happened, since all of us had been away from “Carnage” for three full months: Art was doing film and TV work; Menchu was busy in Atlantis Productions’ “Nine” and with her responsibilities as Repertory Philippines’ associate artistic director; Adrian was the consummate Hollywood a**hole in Pangdemonium’s production of “Swimming with Sharks” here in Singapore; I had “Allegiance.”

Magic

But magic happened. Perhaps because of our time away from the show and one another, we found brand-new subtlety and nuance, stuff that we didn’t find at our first go in Manila.

The play’s new venue, DBS Arts Centre, forced us to adjust many other specifics. Since it’s a smaller play area compared to RCBC Plaza, what used to take 10 steps now only takes two.

For DBS, we aren’t amplified with microphones but the acoustics are so perfect that the slightest whisper can be heard from the back row. We don’t have to scream or shout to be heard.

Last weekend, a few of us decided to watch Singapore Repertory Theatre’s Little Company production of “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” at the same venue (there is a two-and-a-half hour turnaround between “Fox” and “Carnage,” since the shows run concurrently). We found, much to our pleasant surprise, that facial expressions were clearly visible from the back row. We were thus able to tone down the histrionics without losing intensity.

We have a three-week run ahead. I am very excited to see how much more we can do. Thank goodness for amazing coactors.

“God of Carnage” runs at the DBS Arts Centre in Robertson Walk until November 26.