The Goat Or, Who Is Sylvia
Edward Albee
Shotgun Players
Martin’s life seems about as perfect as it can get. He has just received the architect world’s highest award (the Pritzker); he has recently won a contract to design a $200 B Future City in the wheat fields of Kansas; and he has been married for twenty-two years to Stevie, a woman whom he admits, “We’ve always been good together” … “she owns every part of me.” For her part, Stevie describes her husband as “decent, liberal, right-thinking, famous, a gentle man.” So of course Stevie is somewhat shocked and upset when she discovers Martin is having an affair with Sylvia; but can she ever forgive Martin that Sylvia is a goat?
Shotgun Players opens its 34th season with Edward Albee’s 2002 Tony Award winning The Goat Or, Who Is Sylvia? in a production that is jaw-dropping astounding in every respect: direction, acting, visuals, effects, and maybe most of all, subject matter. With sharp-witted humor threading a plot-line of increasing tragedy, Albee’s acclaimed masterpiece challenges Shotgun’s Bay Area audience to consider just how far their liberal leanings will bend. What boundaries, if any, are there on love, intimacy, and morality? Is “an understanding so intense, so natural” that leads to “an epiphany” something we can imagine possible if the eyes that first attract Martin’s locked attention are those of a goat?
William Giammona employs every imaginable aspect of his impressive repertoire of acting talents to at least budge us a bit toward believing Martin Gray is not suddenly a total mental case ready to be shunned if not also institutionalized. Martin’s initial foray into forgetfulness — he wonders if at fifty it is early Alzheimer’s — is actually endearing as we get to know him. His sharp wit and side-debates about grammar even in the midst of muddlement or intense argument are amusing and engaging. That boyish look of deep-felt sincerity as he describes in one sentence his undying devotion to Stevie and in the next his simultaneous, absolute infatuation for Sylvia is one that it is hard to question is not real on both counts.
As he struggles to understand why others could be ashamed and conflicted about their intimate relationships with a non-human; as he erupts in indignation, hurt, and anger over his best friend’s letter to Stevie about the affair; or as he connects in an intimate moment with a gay son who is trembling in his own fear that he may lose the father he loves so much, an actor’s own boundaries are stretched in many directions as his Martin both tests our empathy capacity and awakens possible acceptances we cannot believe we actually have.
Having personally witnessed and enjoyed William Giammona over the years in many and varied roles on Bay Area stages of comedy, drama, and musicals, I for one believe his Martin is a new peak performance for him.
Equally magnificent is the commanding performance that is every minute she is on stage, breathtaking — that of Erin Mei-Ling Stuart as Stevie. Classy, sophisticated, and also full of her own quick wit, her Stevie transforms from a beautifully postured, slowly pacing interrogator trying to understand her husband’s sudden bout of forgetfulness to a slightly smirking with a toss of the head non-believer when she first hears him muttering the word “goat,” to a tornadic whirl of fury as the truth finally sinks in as her supposedly faithful husband describes nuzzling his newfound, four-legged love through a wire fence in the countryside. In a play where Albee is careful not to make judgment on who or what is good or bad, how can we not both agree with and question the verbal attacks and violent reactions of a wife who has heard the news she has heard? Just as our boundaries are being pushed by Martin, Erin Mei-Ling Stuart’s visceral and ultimately vicious depiction of Stevie also elicits both our empathy and our impulse to withdraw from her presence.
As teenage Billy who is clearly bright, privileged, probably spoiled, but also easy to like and even adore, Joel Ochoa too excels in this cast to die for. Like many teens, Billy is quick to make this issue between his mom and dad all about himself in ways only an out, gay boy with an already well-developed drama queen side can do. He also has his own way of suddenly taking charge and being for a moment the only adult in the room. A scene with his dad where all has come out and the two are trying to pick up the pieces of what seems a total wreck in household and relationship is one of the most heart-gripping scenes in the entire play — one in which Joel Ochoa breaks our hearts even as Billy’s sudden action toward his dad makes us want to look the other way. Once again, Albee makes no judgment and challenges us to do the same.
Title star of Shotgun’s recent, much-extended Sunday in the Park with George, Kevin Singer is called upon to arc the character trajectory of Martin’s best friend Ross in directions and degrees that range from friendly and fun jousting to near-fisticuffs bouts of screaming. TV show host Ross only wants to film an interview with his best friend but finds he is getting nowhere because of Martin’s inability to focus on anything but his turning fifty. As he queries what is going on and discovers there is an affair, Ross is actually excited that Martin has finally joined him in the infidelity club of middle-age men. But when he sees a picture of Martin’s Sylvia, an eruption begins that will eventually become a 8.0 on the Richter scale. Kevin Singer is yet one more in this cast who knocks it out of the park before all the resulting tremors finally subside.
As wonderful as is this cast, it is the edgy, bold, and yet deeply sensitive direction of Kevin Clarke that ensures their performances and Albee’s script cause us to lean in, absorb, consider carefully, and not be immediately repulsed by a play about bestiality and its effects on a family and a friendship. His vision for and direction of the Creative Team is also a reason that this Shotgun production is a sure-fire winner.
The bare but elegant stage set designed by Liliana Duque Piñeiro becomes a setting eventually populated by shattered vases, a kicked-in painting, and much over-turned furniture — all invisible and yet all very present thanks to the sound design of Matt Stines. The surprise of revelations, the harshness of words exchanged, but also the moments when a thread of hope still is possible are all captured by the lighting designed by Sophia Craven. With outfits and shoes whose designer styles ready this cast for a magazine shoot (as well as leaving many in the audience envious), Sharon Peng has once again proven her costume designer artistry. And given the hurricane forces that this script delivers, movement coach Soren Santos and fight coordinator Raisa Donato deserve a round of special kudos.
While not a play that on the surface sounds like a great idea for a night on the town, Edward Albee’s The Goat Or, Who Is Sylvia? is a modern-day tragedy that deserves the same kind of audience respect and attraction we give a play equally difficult at times to watch such as Shakespeare’s Macbeth or Albee’s own Who’s Afraid of Virgina Wolfe? Shotgun Players ups the ante to a must-see with a production that excels in every respect possible.
Rating: 5 E, MUST-SEE
A Theatre Eddys Best Bet Production
The Goat Or, Who Is Sylvia? continues in an extended, one-hour, forty-five minute (no intermission) run through May 3, 2026, by Shotgun Players at their Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Avenue, Berkeley, California. Tickets are available online at https://shotgunplayers.org/box-office/, by phone at 510-841-6500, ext. 303, or by email at boxoffice@shotgunplayers.org.
Photo Credits: Ben Krantz
