The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?

by Edward Albee

Overview

“Four decades after Virginia Woolf sent shock waves through the mainstream theatre, Mr. Albee still asks questions that no other major American dramatist dares to ask." –Ben Brantley, The New York Times

Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee’s most provocative, daring, and controversial play since Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Goat won all the major awards for best new play of the year (Tony, New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle). In the play, Martin-a hugely successful architect who has just turned fifty-leads an ostensibly ideal life with his loving wife and gay teenage son. But when he confides to his best friend that he is also in love with a goat (named Sylvia), he sets in motion events that will destroy his family and leave his life in tatters. The playwright himself describes it this way: “Every civilization sets quite arbitrary limits to its tolerances. The play is about a family that is deeply rocked by an unimaginable event and how they solve that problem. It is my hope that people will think afresh about whether or not all the values they hold are valid.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781468307528
Publisher:	The Overlook Press
Publication date:	12/28/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	110
File size:	231 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Edward Albee (1928-2016), his plays include The Zoo Story (1958), The American Dream (1960), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1961–62, Tony Award), Tiny Alice (1964), A Delicate Balance (1966, Pulitzer Prize, and Tony Award, 1996), Seascape (1974, Pulitzer Prize, also available from Overlook), Three Tall Women (1994, Pulitzer Prize), and The Play About the Baby (2001, also available from Overlook). He was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980, and in 1996 he received both the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts.

What People are Saying About This

Michael Feingold

Most likely to be talked about seriously—angrily, ferociously—for years to come.

Clive Barnes

Unquestionably one of the wittiest and funniest plays Albee has ever written...enthralling.

Margo Jefferson

Leaves you with plenty to feel and think about...a tragedy with built-in laughs and elements of fantasy...a brave, questioning play.

Ben Brantley

The Goat is about a profoundly unsettling subject, which for the record is not bestiality but the irrational, confounding, and even convention-thwarting nature of love. The form this force takes in The Goat is beyond a joke...Powerful...extraordinary...Four decades after Virginia Woolf sent shockwaves through the mainstream theatre, Mr. Albee still asks questions that no other major American dramatist dares to ask.