The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?

By Edward Albee

“One must let the play happen to one; one must let the mind loose to respond as it will, to receive impressions, to sense rather than know, to gather rather than immediately understand.”  -  Edward Albee

The Remy Bumppo Theatre Company calls itself "Think Theater" and I can think of no better way for it to demonstrate the resolve that suggests than with their current production of The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? by Edward Albee.  There is no playwright who has been better at  challenging his audiences to do just that - think - about his plays and the nature of theater than Edward Albee over the past fifty years.  Ever since The Zoo Story in the early sixties he has been stretching the bounds of theater;  all the while both honoring tradition and reinventing it.  Nowhere is that better seen than in this play.


The current Remy Bumppo production, under the direction of James Bohnen, is up to the challenge and, I hope, will draw audiences that are as well.  The cast includes strong  performances from Annabel Armour and Nick Sandys, whom I have seen on the Remy Bumppo stage before, but also from Michael Joseph Mitchell and Will Allan.  I was impressed with the ability of the ensemble to maintain the tensions and emotions that are on display from the moment that Stevie and Martin have their opening conversation.  The attention to detail of this production is noteworthy as the apparent order present at the opening is slowly turned to chaos by the tragic action of the players.  This play is tragic in a classic sense and I was reminded of this by the notion of a fall -- for in this play the characters, especially Martin, have the hubris to think they have a perfect life until, literally with a glance and a look, the perfection comes undone and they realize in some tempest-tossed scenes that it may have never been there.  Seemingly shocking, the reactions to Martin are among the most thought-provoking parts of the play.  And that is what is so great about this production, for Albee's play is brought alive on the stage and I will not be able to stop thinking about what it all means for a very long time.  

Neil Simon


Neil Simon's comedies are among my favorites, especially The Odd Couple in its film version with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. I was pleasantly entertained today by a superb production of another of his comedies, Plaza Suite, by the Eclipse Theatre Company at the Victory Garden Greenhouse Theater.

Plaza Suite consists of three one-act comedies with the same setting, a suite at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan. The original Broadway production featured George C. Scott and Maureen Stapleton as the leads in all three of the acts. In the current revival the Eclipse director, Steve Scott, cast different actors in each of the roles and found an excellent ensemble. Cece Klinger excelled as ever (I enjoyed her recent performance in Tennessee Williams' Candles to the Sun) and Nathaniel Swift stood out as Jesse in the second act; while the duo of Cheri Chenoweth and Jon Steinhagen as Norma and Roy in the last act were electric in a bravura farcical episode.

One of the beauties of Simon's comedy is how the humor arises naturally from the situations and characters. In the afternoon talk-back discussion following the play some of the cast shared how they interpreted the text to produce the effective character details that made the afternoon enjoyable for the audience. This was a satisfying production of one of Neil Simon's classic comedies.