Published in The Guardian
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
Traverse, Edinburgh
4 out of 5
Stevie finds out about her husband's affair in Edward Albee's thrilling drama from a letter sent by their old friend Ross. What he wrote, she says, was "awful and absurd, but it wasn't a joke".
The awful and the absurd are constants in Albee's career, from the excruciating battles of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to the talking lizards in Seascape. You expect The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, first seen in 2002, to fall into the absurd category. After all, Stevie's 22-year marriage is under threat because husband Martin has fallen for a goat.
Stevie might not find this funny, but Dominic Hill's firecracker of a production sparks off many a laugh. Martin's passion, which he insists is reciprocal and romantic and not just bestial, is so extreme it is comical, all the more so given the orthodoxy of Jonathan Fensom's living-room set and Martin's career as an architect.
But the real power of Albee's play, beyond the stinging dialogue and gripping clash of wills, lies in the fact that it is awful and not absurd. Having warmed us up with bestiality, the playwright tries us with paedophilia and incest. In describing real taboos – nothing absurd about these – he forces us to consider ambiguous areas where harm is neither intended nor suffered. If we are to be shocked, we must define our terms with the same pedantry that Martin shows to the English language.
That is why the husband's downfall comes not because, abstractly, he has violated social standards, but because, concretely, he has betrayed his wife, something she demonstrates with blood-curdling clarity at the end. Superb performances from Sian Thomas, John Ramm, Paul Birchard and Kyle McPhail do tremendous justice to an unnerving play.
Until 8 May. Box office: 0131-228 1404.
© Mark Fisher 2010
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The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
Traverse, Edinburgh
4 out of 5
Stevie finds out about her husband's affair in Edward Albee's thrilling drama from a letter sent by their old friend Ross. What he wrote, she says, was "awful and absurd, but it wasn't a joke".
The awful and the absurd are constants in Albee's career, from the excruciating battles of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to the talking lizards in Seascape. You expect The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, first seen in 2002, to fall into the absurd category. After all, Stevie's 22-year marriage is under threat because husband Martin has fallen for a goat.
Stevie might not find this funny, but Dominic Hill's firecracker of a production sparks off many a laugh. Martin's passion, which he insists is reciprocal and romantic and not just bestial, is so extreme it is comical, all the more so given the orthodoxy of Jonathan Fensom's living-room set and Martin's career as an architect.
But the real power of Albee's play, beyond the stinging dialogue and gripping clash of wills, lies in the fact that it is awful and not absurd. Having warmed us up with bestiality, the playwright tries us with paedophilia and incest. In describing real taboos – nothing absurd about these – he forces us to consider ambiguous areas where harm is neither intended nor suffered. If we are to be shocked, we must define our terms with the same pedantry that Martin shows to the English language.
That is why the husband's downfall comes not because, abstractly, he has violated social standards, but because, concretely, he has betrayed his wife, something she demonstrates with blood-curdling clarity at the end. Superb performances from Sian Thomas, John Ramm, Paul Birchard and Kyle McPhail do tremendous justice to an unnerving play.
Until 8 May. Box office: 0131-228 1404.
© Mark Fisher 2010
Sign up for theatreSCOTLAND updates: http://groups.google.com/group/theatreSCOTLANDupdates
Sign up for theatreSCOTLAND discussion: http://groups.google.com/group/theatrescotland
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