Posted on March 15, 2006
Can a goat fall in love with a man? Can a father fall in love with his son? Theatre II’s latest production, “The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia,” by Edward Albee, examines such questions and concludes that a man can do such things, but he will likely ruin his life and everyone else’s lives involved.
“The Goat” could fall under the category of a comedy at some moments, but the emotion captured by the Stratford Players hits too hard to laugh the whole way through.
Junior Stephanie Ganacoplos delivers much of the emotion as Stevie, the wife of Martin, who is the lover of the goat. She also concocts colorful combinations of expletives, which often add dark and guilty humor, and directs them at her husband after he reveals his affair. Senior Sean McIntyre plays the intelligent yet arguably off-base Martin, whose rationales of his reciprocal love with Sylvia, the goat, dip into the bizarre depths of human emotion. Freshman Trevor Wilhelms plays Billy, the son of Martin and Stevie, and his performance has its own strange crescendos as he deals with the situation. The final player, Ross, portrayed by senior Vince Zangardi, expertly adds much of the humor and creates much of the conflict.
Although the entire production is well constructed, some audience members may find it difficult to sympathize with a man engaging in a sexual relationship with an animal — a relationship different from all others in that one of the participants cannot refuse or prevent the action. Conceivably some audience members will find fault with the main conflict on principle alone and never get past it. Beastiality and incestuous pedophilia, which is also briefly discussed, certainly takes its place as one of the absolute darkest transgressions of man, and viewers may wonder if anyone should ever try to justify such an action.
Yet director Conrad Mendelius asserts that it’s not about that.
“The play tries to define what love is,” Mendelius said. He said he hopes the audience will “get the deeper meaning,” which the viewers must find and resolve. Even with the disturbing subject matter, the play is marvelously entertaining and the actors will startle you with their unending ability and talent. If for nothing else, watch Ganacoplos’ uncanny ability to portray a woman as her life unravels. The production is filled with talent ranging from senior Kevin Hasser’s set design to Mendelius’s direction.
It is worth seeing, and will leave you with questions, perhaps the most pertinent one regarding the final prop and where on Earth junior Natasha Solomon and Kevin Branson of the props crew found it.
“The Goat” runs through Saturday, with nightly shows at 8 p.m., and a 2 p.m. matinee Saturday. Tickets are on sale two hours before the shows.
