The Goat or Who is Sylvia?
Wed, 7 Mar 2012, 09:56 amGordon the Optom5 posts in thread
The Goat or Who is Sylvia?
Wed, 7 Mar 2012, 09:56 am‘The Goat, or who is Sylvia?’ is a dramatic adult play, blended with lashings of black comedy. Penned by Edward Albee – playwright of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ - this was written a decade ago. ‘The Goat’ has won several major international writers’ awards. This masterpiece is now being presented at the Melville Theatre, at the corner of Canning Highway and Stock Road, Palmyra.
Be warned, it is a 105-minute play, without interval. The season runs until Saturday 17th March, the performances start at 8.00 pm, with one matinee on Sunday 11th at 2.00 pm.
Admission may be refused to latecomers.
Martin (Murray Jackson) is a very successful architect, and has just won the world’s most prestigious architectural award. He is blissfully married to his loyal wife, Stevie (Jodie Hansen) and after 20 years of marriage they still fawn over each other.
Because it is his 50th birthday, Martin is preparing for an interview that is to be filmed in the lounge of his home, by his long-time best friend, Ross (Eddie Stowers). The aim of the interview is to discuss all the successes in Martin’s life. However, the interview goes disappointingly, Martin seems distracted with his brain away in another world. Ross asks what the problem is, only to discover that Martin has a new lover. Inevitably, Martin’s wife, Stevie (Jodie Hansen) learns of the infidelity and is devastated.
To complicate matters, Martin and Stevie have a gay teenage son, Billy (Scott Corbett), who is slowly accepting his homosexuality.
Despite his duplicity, Martin is bewildered and perplexed at Stevie and Billy’s inability to accept his new lover.
How will the family cope with the news of Martin’s new love?
Albee’s dialogue is always beautifully structured, being crammed with metaphors and symbolism; this is also coupled with a cruel and snide nature. There is the disorientated attitude of the wayward husband, who is more worried about people’s English grammar and syntax than his misdemeanour. The wife that visibly crumbles from easy-going, to being a hollow shell.
The extremely strong cast – Murray and Eddie both have major Findley awards – are under the direction of a well-proven, award-winning director Jeff Hansen. The whole cast captured their characters perfectly. Murray was on stage non-stop for the entire 105 minutes, an absolute marathon. One can only be astounded at the demands made on Murray and Jodie in producing their magnificent performances. After years in the theatre could this be Jodie’s turn for the major award? This is the same part that won Nicola Bartlett the ‘Best Actress’ Equity Award. Eddie Stowers was brilliant as the strong, family friend. Congratulations to Scott as the distraught son seeing his family collapse. Four quality performances.
By its nature, this play contains necessary frequent, strong crude language along with adult themes. As the final rehearsal showed, the play can be distressing to some audience members. Certainly not suitable for children.
Not a play for everyone, but it could be the best you will see in community theatre this year. A magnificent team effort.‘The Goat, or who is Sylvia?’ is a dramatic adult play, blended with lashings of black comedy. Penned by Edward Albee – playwright of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ - this was written a decade ago. ‘The Goat’ has won several major international writers’ awards. This masterpiece is now being presented at the Melville Theatre, at the corner of Canning Highway and Stock Road, Palmyra.
Be warned, it is a 105-minute play, without interval. The season runs until Saturday 17th March, the performances start at 8.00 pm, with one matinee on Sunday 11th at 2.00 pm.
Admission may be refused to latecomers.
Martin (Murray Jackson) is a very successful architect, and has just won the world’s most prestigious architectural award. He is blissfully married to his loyal wife, Stevie (Jodie Hansen) and after 20 years of marriage they still fawn over each other.
Because it is his 50th birthday, Martin is preparing for an interview that is to be filmed in the lounge of his home, by his long-time best friend, Ross (Eddie Stowers). The aim of the interview is to discuss all the successes in Martin’s life. However, the interview goes disappointingly, Martin seems distracted with his brain away in another world. Ross asks what the problem is, only to discover that Martin has a new lover. Inevitably, Martin’s wife, Stevie (Jodie Hansen) learns of the infidelity and is devastated.
To complicate matters, Martin and Stevie have a gay teenage son, Billy (Scott Corbett), who is slowly accepting his homosexuality.
Despite his duplicity, Martin is bewildered and perplexed at Stevie and Billy’s inability to accept his new lover.
How will the family cope with the news of Martin’s new love?
Albee’s dialogue is always beautifully structured, being crammed with metaphors and symbolism; this is also coupled with a cruel and snide nature. There is the disorientated attitude of the wayward husband, who is more worried about people’s English grammar and syntax than his misdemeanour. The wife that visibly crumbles from easy-going, to being a hollow shell.
The extremely strong cast – Murray and Eddie both have major Findley awards – are under the direction of a well-proven, award-winning director Jeff Hansen. The whole cast captured their characters perfectly. Murray was on stage non-stop for the entire 105 minutes, an absolute marathon. One can only be astounded at the demands made on Murray and Jodie in producing their magnificent performances. After years in the theatre could this be Jodie’s turn for the major award? This is the same part that won Nicola Bartlett the ‘Best Actress’ Equity Award. Eddie Stowers was brilliant as the strong, family friend. Congratulations to Scott as the distraught son seeing his family collapse. Four quality performances.
By its nature, this play contains necessary frequent, strong crude language along with adult themes. As the final rehearsal showed, the play can be distressing to some audience members. Certainly not suitable for children.
Not a play for everyone, but it could be the best you will see in community theatre this year. A magnificent team effort.Concur
Minor correction
the awards
I'm not too sure whether you are being modest, but the programme - which I have lost - stated that you had both won awards, or was this for being blackboard monitor at school?
If you haven't had an award, then let's hope that the adjudicators correct the situation.
They may have won awards at