I’ve been covering live theater in North Texas for –– gulp –– about two decades now. But I recently encountered a first: A cupcake based on a play. The Original Cupcakery on Fourth Street in Sundance Square has created a special dessert in honor of Circle Theatre’s current production of Yasmina Reza’s God of Carnage (which runs through Feb 23). It’s called –– duh! –– the God of Carnage cupcake.
Circle’s show is about two middle-class married couples who descend into drunken brawling over a playground dispute between their kids. God of Carnage the script reveals how quickly the polite façade of civilization is tossed aside when people’s identities are threatened. Scathing stuff, though to my mind, a bit self-evident.
God of Carnage the cupcake is vanilla pound cake topped with ginger buttercream and a dollop of spiced apple and pear compote. The vanilla cake, sweet and traditional, stands for the social contract of courtesy that’s the basis of civilization. The ginger buttercream slyly references the frothy, delicate ego defenses that cover us, while the apple and pear compote provides a spicy jolt of blunt honesty that challenges our cultural complacency.
Though I’m not a fan of apples, I preferred the God of Carnage cupcake to the God of Carnage script. Try them both and see what you think.
I’ve seen the Cupcakery make cupcakes based on other plays and shows going on at Bass Hall. Nice thing for them to do.