Live and in person at the Studio Theatre, Stratford Festival, Stratford, Ont. Playing until Sept. 29, 2024.
Written by Edward Albee
Directed by Dean Gabourie
Set and costumes by Shawn Kerwin
Lighting by Kaileigh Krysztofiak
Sound by Adam Campbell
Cast: Matthew Kabwe
Anthony Palermo
Lucy Peacock
Rick Roberts
A provocative play going to the extremes to examine societal boundaries, what is appropriate behaviour in love and relationships.
The Story. Martin is a celebrated, award-winning architect. He has been picked to design the ideal city and he’s only turned fifty. He has a been in a long, happy marriage to his wife Stevie. They have a son named Billy who is gay, and loved by his parents.
But Martin is distracted, forgetful and pre-occupied for some reason. He is to be interviewed on his latest milestones by his friend Ross and Ross keeps pushing Martin to confirm that he’s ok—what with all the distractions in this interview. Then Martin confides to Ross: he, Martin, is in love with Sylvia. Who is a goat. I don’t mean Greatest Of All Time. I mean a goat, as in the barnyard animal. As in goat-cheese, chevre. That kind of goat.
Martin says that he was in the country, scouting property to buy for him and Stevie. At the crest of a hill, he saw the goat that he named Sylvia and instantly fell in love with her soft brown eyes. He was smitten. He kept going back to see her. Martin tells Ross that he (Martin) can’t tell Stevie about it. Ross says he has to. Ross takes it upon himself to send Stevie a letter telling her.
The Production and comment. Director, Dean Gabourie has set an impish tone with the selection of the pre-show music. Various artists sing Cole Porter’s song of ‘doing it’ “Let’s Do It (Let’s Fall In Love)”:
Birds do it, bees do it
Even educated fleas do it
Let’s do it, let’s fall in love
Followed by several clever stanzas of lyrics of the many and various forms of life that ‘do it’, fall in love (although ‘doing it’ suggests more than just ‘falling in love.’) It’s a perfect song for establishing with wit, humour and innuendo that will follow, but with a surprising shock.
Shawn Kerwin has designed a beautiful, modern set. There are four white comfortable chairs facing each other; a room wide white shelving unit on which are black framed photos, objets d’art and other items, all in a contrasting dark colour to the white unit. Behind one of the chairs is a table on which is a white model of a building along with a vase of vibrant coloured flowers. The room says: “tasteful, beautifully appointed and successful. This is the showcase home of Martin (Rick Roberts and his wife Stevie (Lucy Peacock).
Shawn Kerwin also designed the costumes. Ross (Matthew Kabwe) is grungy/casual; Billy (Anthony Palermo) is in jeans and t-shirt, typical for a teenager; Martin is casual in a shirt, blazer and pants, but the quality of the clothes for him is obvious. Stevie is in flowing beiges and crème coloured top, sweater coat of sorts and wide legged pants and crème coloured shoes. Stunning. The statement here is that Stevie is perfectly dressed to impress and also for comfort.
Stevie is fluffing pillows and arranging flowers in preparation for Martin’s interview with his friend Ross to mark his (Martin’s) latest honours. Stevie and Martin banter good-naturedly and with teasing affection. Martin seems distracted. He can’t remember anything, such as who Stevie is talking about (Ross), even though they have discussed the interview for several minutes.
When Stevie receives Ross’s letter explaining that Martin is having an affair, naturally Stevie does not take it well. As Stevie, Lucy Peacock is furious when she reads the letter and confronts Martin with the information. Stevie is incandescent with anger at this betrayal. She starts breaking things and tipping furniture with every sentence Martin utters because he’s trying to explain his feelings as true love for Sylvia.
With a combination of simmering fury and contained control, Lucy Peacock as Stevie is nuanced, watchful, superior, and dangerous. She calls Martin’s relationship with Sylvia, bestiality. Martin, as played by the wonderful Rick Roberts, on the other hand doesn’t see it that way. He says it’s love from his point of view. He is at a loss to explain his feelings but they are true. At first Martin joined a group of like-minded people who were in love with animals and had a physical relationship with them. Stevie is horrified and continues to break stuff.
(A quibble, when these things smash, they should do so with more dramatic smashing etc. As it is it just seems the objects are breaking into neat pieces—I think it should be more explosive than just breaking the stuff into neat pieces. The smashed glass was terrific).
Matthew Kabwe as Ross is easy-going and concerned about Martin. He’s wary because he knows his friend. Ross is a sturdy friend and wants what’s good for Martin and Stevie. As Billy, Anthony Palermo is an emotional teenager, almost petulant, which works a treat.
What is playwright Edward Albee really saying here? I think he’s using the extreme when talking about relationships with what some would call “the other”. Stevie rages that people should be with “their own kind”. She is meaning humans should have relationships with humans. But we know from history that within that human category, people were forbidden to have relationships with people of the same sex. Until recently in some states it was illegal for a Black person and a white person to marry. It had been frowned upon for people from different religions, ethnicities, and nationalities to marry/love/be associated with such people. So Edward Albee is taking it to extremes in The Goat Or, Who Is Sylvia? by having a human have a sexual relationship with a goat under the guise of love. And just to be cheeky, Albee includes Stevie and Martin’s son who is gay, which would have been a category frowned upon to have a same sex relationship. I also think Albee is being smarmy when he gives Martin’s very feminine wife a man’s name, Stevie. Albee is looking at the status quo and unbalancing it.
Albee tips the balance by offering two firm points of view. Stevie and Ross think Martin having an affair with a goat is depraved. They think it unthinkable that Martin could actually love an animal in a romantic way. Martin of course disagrees and loves Sylvia to distraction and can’t articulate why he does—he loved her gentle eyes. He says she returns his affection….I think that’s a lot of pressure from Martin on Sylvia.
Director Dean Gabourie has let the play unfold slowly but then relentlessly, without sentiment, or holding back. He has directed a bristling production of a provocative play with care and attention.
The Stratford Festival presents:
Plays until Sept. 29, 2024.
The running time is 2 hours (without an intermission)
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Pedantic, I know, but I think you meant “property to buy for him…” not “property to buy for he…”
Thanks Stuart. We like ‘pedantic.’ Pedantic is good. I corrected it. You are correct of course. Much thanks for the eagle eyes. Best, Lynn Slotkin