Edward Albee’s play is an investigation of the source of our morals, the limits of our tolerance and the ungovernability of love. Martin Gray admits to his best friend that he’s fallen in love with, and had sex with, a goat. The friend tells Martin’s wife, who reacts with pain and rage: and Martin’s pleas for understanding only lead to more fury. Is Albee trying to understand why the word tragedy originally meant “goat-song”? Is he illustrating some kabbalistic myth about the coming of evil to the world? No other play of the last quarter-century is as provocative as this shocker, which was presented by Jobsite Theater in a stunning production.
This article appears in Sep 13-19, 2006.