The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?

Steve Carpenter (Ross) stumbles on a primal scene with Travis Hudson (Billy) & Bruce Nelson (Martin)

Those who have missed Edward Albee's play The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, the Tony Award winner for 2002, (or didn't quite get it the first time around), have a chance to see a stellar production at the Rep Stage in Howard County (to 6/27). Ostensibly a riff on sexual perversion (specifically bestiality) this metaphor-rich play examines notions of desire, free will, chance, taboos, justice, and language in shaping who we think we are and who we become in the eyes of others. Starting out as a theater-of-the-absurd comedy, The Goat slowly morphs into a tragedy of Attic proportions. When the Eumenides are mentioned, look out: they're coming to get you! Prepare for the misfortunes of life, but be aware that there's an unpredictable, high impact, rare event - a catastrophe - dubbed a Black Swan [or Goat!] by N.N. Taleb, lurking on the horizon. And if it finds you, there'll be hell to pay.

Director Kasi Campbell captures all the psychodynamics of this family's downfall, amping up the confrontations where necessary to expose Mr. Albee's underlying truths. This production ultimately goes for the knockout, but is sensitive to the poetic rhythms of the characters and story along the way. The actors' timing and transitioning within scenes are impeccable as is the blocking (credit also movement coach Jenny Male).

Emily Townley as the wronged wife Stevie is played with incredible range and pathos; her performance is so fluid, in the moment, it looks like a reality show. When's she's not cracking one-liners, she's delivering shots below the belt. Her partner in crime, Bruce Nelson as husband Martin, reveals himself in the clinches, allowing the circumstances and misfortunes to play across his countenance and body like so many telling, nonverbal cues. Mr. Nelson's astonishment at the role that fate has cast him is fresh and bemused with each hammerblow.

Well-cast Steven Carpenter (Ross) plays the sanctimonious "friend" who brings misfortune onto this house while the comically bug-eyed Travis Hudson (Billy) is the son who tries to hold it all together ("whatever"). Who will win in the end? Well, let's just say, if you like Martin McDonagh plays (as I do) this one will ring your bell.

Daniel Ettinger's set is picture perfect and worthy of a room of its own at the Washington Design Center. The lighting design of Dan Covey takes it through its strange journey while props designer Andrea "Dre" Moore rises to the challenges nightly in her Sisyphean task of resetting this broken world.

Though Mr. Albee's dialogue tends toward the didactic at the conclusion, over-explaining some seemingly gratuitous shocks, this is probably our greatest living playwright - certainly one of the most influential - writing at the top of his considerable powers. The Rep Stage has paid him the highest honor in capturing the letter and the spirit of this exciting work for the times. When you leave this show, you will know the meaning of a theatrical event, one you're not likely forget.