Review: DOG OF CARNAGE at Broadwater Black Box

Benjamin Schwartz’ dramedy DOG OF CARNAGE is an incisive, contemplative fever dream about relationships, perspective, and the unique and deeply resonant love of a dog.

Playing at the Broadwater Second Stage, the two-hander involves X (Callie Ott) and Y (Spencer Weitzel) pleading their cases for custody of their canine. Using flashbacks, we see how the two fell in love and how they fell out of it as well, leading to the contentious breakup and guardianship battle. They’re farcical, ludicrous, and, in the end, totally relatable.

Performed in the round (including seats for the jury on the stage), DOG OF CARNAGE is smart and sharp and moving. Schwartz peels back the layers of both X and Y, revealing complexity in both. There are no villains here, just two hurt and damaged people.

Director Ryan Lisman makes great use of the black box and he sets the pacing beautifully. Without the quieter moments of introspection and reflection, the rest of the show would be strident, but as it is, each — the quieter and the more abrasive — moment offsets the other.

Ott and Weitzel make fantastic sparring partners, by turns tender and vociferous. Weitzel does befuddled as well as Hugh Grant in his prime. He can wring laughs out of the simplest expression or gesture.

A Fringe Fest sellout this past summer, DOG OF CARNAGE is surprising in the best ways. The judge X and Y are appealing to is never seen, only heard, and the voice is the muted wah-wah-wah of a Charlie Brown teacher. X and Y break into herky-jerky dance breaks to indicate a scene or time change. It’s jarring, but potent. (Be warned that these sequences involve flashing lights and intense music.) The sound design by playwright Schwartz and lead actor Weitzel has an effective presence, adding punctuation to scenes and moments, giving them even more weight.

In the end, DOG OF CARNAGE is a powerful take on choices, and how we change, sometimes together, sometimes not. Sometimes you don’t want the same things, and that’s OK. It has to be OK. We just don’t all have to go to court to figure that out.

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