Edward Albee's The Goat, Or, Who Is Sylvia?
by Edward Albee

Broadway West End
Edward Albee's The Goat, Or, Who Is Sylvia? Book Cover
Edward Albee's The Goat, Or, Who Is Sylvia? Cover

Highlights

105 mins Present Day Interior Set Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes American

Awards & Recognition

Drama Desk Award Evening Standard Award Olivier Award Pulitzer Prize Tony Award

Winner! 2002 Tony Award for Best Play Winner! 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play Finalist: 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Nominee: Three 2005 Olivier Awards, including Best New Play Nominee: Two 2004 Evening Standard Theatre Awards, including Best Play

Synopsis

“Four decades after Virginia Woolf sent shock waves through the mainstream theatre, Mr. Albee still asks questions that no other major American dramatist dares to ask."

–Ben Brantley, The New York Times Three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward Albee’s most provocative, daring, and controversial play since Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, The Goat won all the major awards for best new play of the year (Tony, New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle).

In the play, Martin-a hugely successful architect who has just turned fifty-leads an ostensibly ideal life with his loving wife and gay teenage son.

But when he confides to his best friend that he is also in love with a goat (named Sylvia), he sets in motion events that will destroy his family and leave his life in tatters.

The playwright himself describes it this way: “Every civilization sets quite arbitrary limits to its tolerances.

The play is about a family that is deeply rocked by an unimaginable event and how they solve that problem.

It is my hope that people will think afresh about whether or not all the values they hold are valid.”

Press Reviews

"The Goat is about a profoundly unsettling subject, which for the record is not bestiality but the irrational, confounding, and convention-thwarting nature of love. Powerful [and] extraordinary…Mr. Albee still asks questions that no other major American dramatist dares to ask."

— The New York Times

"As fine a piece of theatrical art as any Edward Albee has created – and perhaps boldest of them all."

— Houston Chronicle

Characters

Character
Martin
Ross
Billy
Stevie

Videos

The Goat – 2017 West End Revival Featurette

Publication

Year 2003
Binding Paperback
Edition 35359th
Pages 72
Place New York
Language English
ISBN-13 9780822219767
ISBN-10 082221976X
LCCN 2004302807
LCC PS3551.L25 G63 2003b

Edward Albee's The Goat, Or, Who Is Sylvia? is a American play written by Edward Albee and published by Dramatists Play Service in New York (2003).

Digital editions available on Amazon Kindle .

Community Reviews

No community reviews yet

Rating

3.9

7k ratings · 243 reviews

Review

Buy Play

Performance Rights

Available for Licensing
Amateur & Professional
Fee: Minimum Fee: $130 per performance
Apply for Rights

Similar Plays

Plays with similar themes, style, and content.

More from Edward Albee

More plays from Edward Albee that we think you'll enjoy.