A review by amysutton
The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? by Edward Albee
1.0
I think this one might have been more impacting had I seen it performed. The idea of the play -- a man forms a relationship with a goat, and it tears his family apart -- was really interesting. The wife, Stevie, was probably my favorite character as she slowly went insane from desperation.
Albee said that his intent with the play was to make people "think afresh about whether or not all the values they hold are valid." I'm not sure that it did that for me. I think the point of the play was not to focus on the goat being a goat per se, but instead to look at how love changes and adapts and how monogamy breaks down. The goat was merely comic relief.
(the rest of the review is a spoiler, but it's the reason I think I liked this play less, so read if you want...)
I didn't understand the relationship between Martin and his gay son Billy. There's obviously tension in that the parents think that Billy is merely going through a phase, so his lifestyle is constantly disregarded or made to be a joke. Then... at the climax of the scene after Stevie has stormed out, Billy runs in and starts screaming at his dad Martin which eventually leads to Billy screaming that he loves him, and running at Martin and kissing him sexually. The play then goes on for Martin to confess that when Billy was a baby, he was bouncing on Martin's lap one day and Martin got a (claimed to be non-sexual) boner.
I just don't understand this part of the play. It was as if all characters were kind of going insane and the implication is that Billy's sexuality stemmed from a deep seated mental instability. Martin begins to defend Billy's Father complex. I felt like Martin is just sexually misguided in all ways, and the idea was that Billy being gay was almost a trait passed down through having to be around Martin's perversion. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong, but that whole part of the play was just way out of left field, and I didn't understand it. Mostly, I just feel like I missed something considering that Albee himself is gay and probably isn't making those implications. I just can't figure out why.
Albee said that his intent with the play was to make people "think afresh about whether or not all the values they hold are valid." I'm not sure that it did that for me. I think the point of the play was not to focus on the goat being a goat per se, but instead to look at how love changes and adapts and how monogamy breaks down. The goat was merely comic relief.
(the rest of the review is a spoiler, but it's the reason I think I liked this play less, so read if you want...)
I didn't understand the relationship between Martin and his gay son Billy. There's obviously tension in that the parents think that Billy is merely going through a phase, so his lifestyle is constantly disregarded or made to be a joke. Then... at the climax of the scene after Stevie has stormed out, Billy runs in and starts screaming at his dad Martin which eventually leads to Billy screaming that he loves him, and running at Martin and kissing him sexually. The play then goes on for Martin to confess that when Billy was a baby, he was bouncing on Martin's lap one day and Martin got a (claimed to be non-sexual) boner.
I just don't understand this part of the play. It was as if all characters were kind of going insane and the implication is that Billy's sexuality stemmed from a deep seated mental instability. Martin begins to defend Billy's Father complex. I felt like Martin is just sexually misguided in all ways, and the idea was that Billy being gay was almost a trait passed down through having to be around Martin's perversion. Maybe I'm looking at it wrong, but that whole part of the play was just way out of left field, and I didn't understand it. Mostly, I just feel like I missed something considering that Albee himself is gay and probably isn't making those implications. I just can't figure out why.