To seasoned theatergoers, "God of Carnage," which debuted at Fulton Opera House on Wednesday night, will seem to contain some familiar elements.

Like playwright Philip Barry's 1939 drawing-room comedy "The Philadelphia Story," it centers on uptight, upper-class people forgetting their manners. Like Edward Albee's 1962 drama "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" it features a lot of emotional exposition fueled by copious amounts of alcohol.

"God of Carnage," a co-production between the Fulton and Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre, written by Yasmina Reza (her effort won the Tony Award for Best Play in 2009), isn't as archly witty as "The Philadelphia Story" and nowhere near as nihilistically exhausting as "Virginia Woolf."

Which seemed to suit the preview night audience at the Fulton just fine. "Carnage" drew its share of laughs after an understated start. Understated, in that this comedy of words could have used a little more projecting at the outset, but the volume picked up as the play progressed.

The plot of "Carnage" is simple. Two terribly polite yuppie couples, Veronica and Michael (Julie Czarnecki and Ben Lipitz) and Annette and Alan (Susan Riley Stevens and Greg Wood), gather together in a terribly proper living room — we assume it's located in some terribly correct address in the greater New York City area — to discuss the unpleasant fact that their respective 11-year-old sons have had a slugfest at a local playground.

In days past, it would have just been kids being kids, and the parents involved might have just given things a passing mention. Even if things involved one kid getting two teeth knocked out.

Not so for this foursome. "Does he understand he's disfigured his playmate?" one character asks, exaggerating the situation. In the same scenario, tulips (tastefully arranged in beautiful vases) are admired by another character as "gorgeous," and how quaint is it that they come from some ethnic neighborhood store?

Those tulips meet a nasty (and deserved) fate as what starts as some kind of parent/teacher conference — without the teachers — degenerates into a rum-soaked evening of very bad manners.

Many people will identify with the four characters in "Carnage," especially Greg Wood's Alan, a pharmaceutical rep who is constantly on his cellphone. If you have a friend or family member who is glued to a mobile device, much to your annoyance, you will cheer one pivotal scene.

Or maybe you know somebody like Czarnecki's Veronica, a well-meaning soul who wants to save the embattled African nation of Somalia's district of Darfur but can't figure out why her own son would engage in "savage" behavior. Her alliances are all over the place: She wants to save the poor of the world but becomes completely unhinged when an unfortunate incident (too important to give away here) threatens her valuable collection of artistic coffee-table books.

Ben Lipitz, as Michael, Veronica's spouse, puts up with a great deal. He's a kind of a self-made guy who feels somewhat socially inferior to the smooth and suave Alan, but once the booze starts flowing, do any social barriers really matter? Guys bond with guys, women bond with women, and then, like all bad evenings of drinking, things shift back and forth. Guys fight with guys, women fight with women and then they all strangely declare truces before fighting again.

That's where Susan Riley Stevens comes in handy. She's oh-so-proper, in her pearls. Then push comes to shove. Imagine Katharine Hepburn's "Philadelphia Story" character having a very unfortunate reaction to booze. Stevens' character could very well invoke sympathy, and laughs, from those good folks who have slipped once in a while.

Granted, "God of Carnage" might annoy some people. You have four very not-very-sympathetic rich people dealing with problems that, to many, aren't really a big concern in these recessionary times. But even these folks, in their immaculate setting, come to realize the foolishness of their closed little world, defined by such things as out-of-print coffee-table books.

"Objects," declares Czarnecki's Veronica at one point, "become ridiculously important."

"God of Carnage" runs through Feb. 19 at Fulton Opera House, 12 N. Prince St., in downtown Lancaster. For ticket information, call 397-7425 or visit thefulton.org. The play contains mature themes and language and runs approximately 90 minutes without an intermission.