November 2011

Centaur Stage features actor Ellen David

Suzanne Shugar chats with accomplished stage and screen actor, Ellen David, about God of Carnage and the “mother bear within”.

Ellen David & Director Roy Surette

Suzanne ShugarGod of Carnage is often compared to Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? How are they similar?

Ellen DavidIn both plays, two married couples get together in close quarters, and their social interactions lead to mayhem and madness! We are witnessing adults behaving badly, where layers of social veneer are stripped away to reveal the inner truths lurking beneath the masks they wear. The god of carnage seems to be the puppet master that pulls the strings in both plays, although he seems to get his jollies in about half the running time in Yasmina Reza’s play than he did with Albee as his muse almost 50 years ago! Ultimately though, I would characterize Virginia Woolf as a tragedy with comic undertones and God of Carnage as a comedy with some serious overtones. In the end, both make you laugh while punching you in the gut…a glorious combination for the theatre!

SSDelivering a strong ensemble performance requires trust and chemistry. How do actors develop group synergy during the rehearsal process?

EDWhen a director has cast well, a lot of the work has already been done to expedite the process of synergy building. Your acting partners are your new immediate family and instant allies for the duration of the rehearsals and performances. To achieve the levels of intimacy required to be truthful, and to feel comfortable taking the risks one needs to take in portraying complex human psyches, you have to throw yourself headfirst into the work and know that the net provided by your fellow actors and director will catch you, should you fall. That is why the sacred space of the rehearsal process is so valuable…it is our private laboratory where we get to know each other, tell our stories, try things out, make mistakes, and iron out the kinks in order to tell the best story we can to our audience, with the time and resources we are given. This play, with its pace, drive, verbal and even physical gymnastics is incredibly demanding and requires all of us to function as one well-oiled machine. A great rehearsal is like a good lube job!

God of Carnage production poster

DESIGN : STEVE ROSS

SSDid you tap into your experience as a mom to prepare for your role?

EDYou bet I did! As an actor, you are exposing many facets of yourself that are useful to bring a character to life, and using your intuition to fully live in the moment. The role of parent awakens the “mother bear” within you, with its innate and primal need to protect your cub. When my son Raphael was younger, he was hit in the eye with a snowball thrown “on purpose” by another child resulting in a scratched cornea. This event brought up all sorts of feelings, and I am channeling most of them into Veronica’s reaction to her son being the victim of a stick-wielding 11 year old warrior! Can you hear the growling?! Revenge is a dish best served with clafoutis…

SSGod of Carnage is a hilarious look at urban child-rearing. What are your thoughts about contemporary parenting styles?

Ellen David with husband Stéphane Demers and son Raphael

EDI think being a mom is one of the most difficult roles I will ever play. These days, we are confronted with newer and more pervasive challenges than previous generations ever experienced…from Facebook to Twitter to texting, our kids are so plugged into a rapidly evolving society that their innocence is long gone before they can even spell the word. We have to guide them, teach them, nurture them while at the same time giving them the autonomy to go out in the world with confidence and make good choices, and herein lies our greatest challenge. We may want to protect and control, and one way of doing this is by “helicopter parenting”, a term that has become popular lately to describe hovering over your kids, rarely being out of reach, preventing problems before they arise. It is very hard to pull back and let them make their own mistakes and live their own lives, but I am not sure we are doing them any favours by over-parenting, in that that they never get to make mistakes and learn from them. Giving them the wings to fly on their own is much harder, but probably of more value to them in the long run. Parenting is a day to day, moment to moment, ever changing and evolving experience. It is not for the faint of heart! You do the best you can, and hope that some of it will stick (and not in the teeth!!)

SSDoes God of Carnage inspire you and your husband, actor Stéphane Demers, to re-evaluate how you raise your son?

EDWe might consider sending him to school with a mouth-guard and a helmet! He is also taking karate!!

SSYour son is blessed to have a mom who is as talented and funny as she is profound. Thank you, Ellen.

Suzanne Shugar is a Montreal journalist, broadcaster and Centaur Theatre's PR and Web Writer