By Galen Simmons

Playwright Edward Albee’s play, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?,was written and first staged in 2002 in part to challenge what an audience and we as a society will tolerate.

Albee accomplished this by centring his story on a world-renowned architect, Martin (Rick Roberts), who has fallen in love and engaged in a sexual relationship with a goat.

That simple and morally corrupt concept is explored, without intermission, over the next hour and 50 minutes as Martin’s loving wife, Stevie (Lucy Peacock), his son, Billy (Anothony Palermo) and oldest friend, Ross (Matthew Kabwe), struggle emotionally and, in Stevie’s case, violently to come to terms with such an indefensible admission by an otherwise loving, smart, talented and widely respected man.

I won’t candy coat it. This play is difficult to watch. There is no happy ending or hidden explanation that makes Martin’s actions acceptable or even understandable. He just saw a goat one day, looked deeply into her eyes, fell in love, called her Sylvia and the rest I need not explain further.

The Goat, or Who is Sylivia? was a bold choice for the Stratford Festival’s 2024 season, themed around the idea of “a world elsewhere.” In this case, it seems that world elsewhere is a hypothetical what-if about a man who feels compelled to break one of our most basic social conventions at the cost of everything he holds dear.

Why would someone listen to that dark voice in their head most of us ignore? What happens after and is there a way back from that? Can we look past the irredeemable in support of someone we love? Can we even control who or what we love?

Those are the questions both the audience and the characters on stage were confronted with as the story plays out. I still don’t know the answers to those questions but, admittedly, I was captivated by the performances of each of the actors as their characters were forced into a new world and understanding of someone they love without any conceivable way back to the world and the man they once knew.

Peacock was particularly captivating as she delivered Stevie’s witty, emotionally wrought, yet open-to-some-kind-of-understanding repartee with Roberts’ Martin, translating her character’s justifiable rage, hurt, disgust and sadness into physical violence as she destroyed the set – her family’s once tasteful and modern living room – over the course of the play’s long middle act.

Roberts, too, did an excellent job bringing the audience on side with his likable character before dropping that inevitable bomb. More than anything, Roberts’ performance throughout made me want some kind of reasonable explanation for Martin’s actions that would bring the father and husband back into the good graces – or at least on the road to recovery – with both his family and the audience.

Palermo’s performance as Billy offered at least a glimmer of hope for Martin in the play’s third act as the confused teen painfully tried to understand his father’s actions and make a conscious choice to continue loving the man despite all he’d done to tear their family apart.

This is not a play that will leave you feeling good at the end; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. However, if you see the value in a what-if social experiment that tests what you personally can tolerate, and you’re prepared to be shocked, disgusted and entertained, this one is worth the price of admission.

Just be sure to leave the kids at home.

The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? plays at the Studio Theatre until Sept. 29.