Have you ever found yourself in a social situation where you’ve had to hold your tongue? A new play heading to the Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre explores what happens when you no longer hold back and you say exactly what’s on your mind. God of Carnage hits the stage on 23-26 November.

Sticks, stones, and thrown phones, the play, written by Yasmina Reza, focuses on the aftermath of childhood conflict. Two sets of parents with contrasting outlooks, backgrounds, and approaches to childrearing have come together after one son has hit the other with a stick. The air is tense and feelings are awkward as they try and get to the bottom of what happened and figure out the best resolution.

“It’s a comedy of manners, but without any manners. It’s what happens when adults behave like children,” says director, Jordan Best.

Being a mother, Best is able to relate to the content, though admits she’s lucky to have not been in this particular situation before. She has, however, experienced somewhat uncomfortable conversations with parents, who, she says, tend to act one of two ways. She says at the end of the day it all boils down to that awareness as a parent, knowing your child, and understanding how they would behave.

“I’ve had two conversations with kids’ parents whose kids have bullied my son. And one of them was like ‘my son would never do that, your son is making it up’.  The other one was like, ‘oh my God, that’s dreadful. You let me know the second my little turd says anything, and I’ll come down on them like a ton of bricks’,” Best says.

Actor Lainie Hart, who plays the mother of the boy who has thrown said stick, says you don’t have to be a parent to be able to relate to the play. Everyone, at some point, has been in an uncomfortable social situation with strangers, sometimes even the people you love, when you’ve felt you have had to hold back. For Hart, it’s when she visits her parents, and a certain political commentator is on the television.

“Dad’s like, ‘he’s so awesome’ and you’re going ‘do I take this on, do I bite my tongue?’ But this is pushing all my buttons, the relationship matters more, I’m in their house. All those decisions we make about the things that we don’t agree with,” Hart says.

Bringing their own awkward experiences to the stage, something both women can agree on is that the characters in the play are relatable; you either know or perhaps you are them. They aren’t dramatised caricatures, just everyday people reacting to an everyday situation, which is then drawn out and exploded into a massive situation.

“You know parents like this, or you have parents like this, in unbelievably uncomfortable social situations, we’ve all been in them. Getting to watch what it would be like if you let yourself say the thing that you would never ever say,” Hart says.

One set of parents is desperate to settle the ordeal, put it behind them and leave the awkward situation while the other isn’t happy with any of the solutions. As they continue to go round in circles, people start asking questions and things heat up. The polite and civilised evening deteriorates in front of the audience, to what can only be described as a trainwreck you can’t stop watching.

“There’s something really delicious about watching people lose it, and around kind of domestic issues that drive us all crazy. There’s something really accessible and really fun, dangerous and satisfying about all of that,” Hart says.

“It’s over the top, these characters say things that you will never say in polite society,” Best adds.

The tension doesn’t just unfold between the parents but also within the couples. Patience is tested and lost when bad habits and errors in judgement come to light. You’ll get to see someone whose partner has answered their phone at an inappropriate time once too many, or how you might want to react if your partner had let out a beloved family pet.

From minor annoyances to broken teeth, the play touches on missed and ignored social cues with unusual reactions delivered in an entertaining laugh-out-loud package.

“We’re talking about all this friction and serious things, it’s a comedy, it’s fast, funny and quite frivolous. Because in the end, it isn’t super serious, the situation; the stakes are both really high and not at all,” Best smiles.

Witness the chaos unfold in God of Carnage at The Q – Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, 23-26 November; theq.net.au

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