The Goat or Who Is Sylvia? by Edward Albee
The only word that can possibly describe The Goat is: bizarre. I can’t wait to see how this goes over. It’s a lively script and shouldn’t be hard to watch, except that it’s over-the-top weird. It’s also got a long stretch of unrelieved turmoil. That can be tough–people screaming for half an hour straight.
I’m designing the lights for this show. The lights will be very easy because it’s an indoor unit set with no special effects. All I’ve got to do is make sure you can see the actors while they talk about goat loving. Actually, I’m cleaning that up. They really talk about goat fucking.
Since I’m part of design process, I ought to understand what’s meant by this script in which a man loves a goat (I don’t think I’m giving away much of a surprise here–the fact comes out pretty early), but I don’t. Probably the son’s being homosexual is no coincidence. Not to say that I think having a father who loves goats would turn you into a homosexual, only that I’m guessing Albee is making some kind of point here. About the love that dare not speak it’s name. Or something.
I’ve got a lot of faith in this director. We’ll see.