The mask of civilisation slips disastrously in God of Carnage which the Arundel Players are bringing to the stage from June 9-14 at 7.30pm at The Priory Playhouse Theatre, London Road, Arundel, BN18 9AT.
00:00Good afternoon, my name is Phil Hewitt, Green Potts Editor at Sussex Newspapers. Lovely to speak to Jamie Potts. Now, Jamie, you're in a fabulous play, God of Carnage. It's such a great play, isn't it? And it's for the Arundel players coming up June the 9th to the 14th. And you were saying just now, you play a wonderfully unpleasant character, and you said that with a bit too much pleasure, really. What's the enjoyment in playing someone who, as you say, is wonderfully unpleasant?
00:30I'm a primary school teacher, and a dad to two young boys. And it kind of harks to my main skills and things like that. I'm a gentle, calm, fairly easygoing person. I'm a good listener. So to play the opposite, to play someone who doesn't want to listen, someone who's very preoccupied with his own career,
00:54his own life, his own lifestyle, and doesn't really want to be pulled back to normality by wife and kids, and these family matters that should be dealt with by other people, doesn't want to be pulled back like that. So as someone who doesn't get to be unpleasant a lot of the time,
01:14it's fascinating to do that, in front of an audience as well. You get to see both sides of the personality, I think.
01:22And the point of this play is, we're watching four people who are desperately trying to be pleasant, but finding it rather difficult, aren't they?
01:30They are. They have a facade, they have their professionalism. And that would be boring if it carried on all the way through. But of course, they do unravel.
01:40There's some alcohol that helps in there. But there's also quite a sensitive issue with their 11-year-old boys. Both families have 11-year-old sons.
01:51And the unravelling is where the good drama is. It's where the dark comedy is. It's where the characters really kind of spring to life on stage.
01:58Watching them desperately try and keep their mask well affixed to their face, but really unable to, because the pressures of being in a living room with three other people who are pushing your buttons ever so slightly,
02:13you see the cracks in the mask and those buttons are being pushed in quite a nice way as well.
02:19The sun of one of the couples has apparently hit the sun of the other couple. But the lovely thing to say is, it is intense, isn't it? It plays effectively in real time, doesn't it?
02:31It does, yeah. You kind of meet them as they arrive to this family meeting that they've arranged in all their professionalism.
02:38And it ends when they leave. So they have a good 45, 50 minutes together and fall apart. It would be very dull.
02:46And it could be an amicable meeting. They come up with a solution and move on.
02:53Where would the fun in that be? They absolutely unravel and pick each other apart.
02:59They psychoanalyze each other and they're quite cruel with each other at times.
03:04And they're very, very quick to pick up on the failings of other cast members, which is, again, the good stuff.
03:12That's the fun stuff. That's for me as an audience member. That's the stuff I like to look for. Failings.
03:19Well, Jamie, it sounds great. Lovely to speak to you.
03:22Have a great time being wonderfully unpleasant and falling apart. It's a super play. Good to speak to you.
03:29I'm looking forward to it. Thank you very much.
