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Stevie Gray has learned her husband Martin is having an affair, and she is laying into him with a savage intensity fueled by anger and humiliation.
This scene - the second act of The Goat or Who Is Sylvia?, the play by Edward Albee that Philadelphia Theatre Company is presenting at Plays & Players Theatre - has been played out countless times, both in real life and on the stage. But the big difference here is the object of Martin's affections. It is not another woman, or a man. He is having an affair with... well, look at the title.
Albee says he wrote The Goat to shock people into thinking about their values. He wants us to put ourselves in Stevie's place and ask what we would think if our partner were engaged in such a relationship and ponder how we would feel if struck with a passion like Martin's.
Most people, I suspect, won't have trouble sympathizing with Stevie, who is uncomprehending, deeply mortified, and full of rage. She is convinced that Martin has stepped way over the line and that their formerly perfect, faithful relationship is irreparably shattered. Feeling along with Martin, on the other hand, is pretty difficult for those of us who have not, like him, seen a four-footed creature grazing in a field, fallen hopelessly in love, and had sex with it.
This imbalance of identification underlines the absurdity and implausibility of Martin's bizarre passion, which is further heightened by Albee's writing and the strong performance in this production (directed by Tim Vasen) of Elizabeth Norment as Stevie.
Albee has no peer in writing bitter, witty invective, and this may be the best he has turned out in his long career. Delivered passionately with a nasty edge by Norment, it is so humorous that you're likely to be savoring the last quip about bestiality rather than becoming emotionally invested in the characters.
Another problem is Albee's conception and John Glover's portrayal - it's difficult to separate the two - of Martin. He's a likable, good-natured, sensitive guy, but he is so unassertive, confused and disconnected from reality (can Martin possibly be the world-famous architect Albee describes?) that it's hard to get interested in him. Martin may be at the center of the play, but he comes across as little more than a straight man for the pointedly humorous barbs of incredulity aimed at him not only by Stevie but by the play's other characters, the 17-year-old gay son Billy (an excellent Bradford William Anderson) and his friend Ross, an appropriately oily Tom Teti.
On the way to a violent conclusion, Albee attempts to turn The Goat into a sort of contemporary Greek tragedy. Most people, however, will leave the theater feeling entertained by this strange play's extravagant wit rather than moved to catharsis by its ending.
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