The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? is an awardwinning play by the late American playwright Edward Albee. Written in 2000, the play opened on Broadway in 2002 and the same year, it won the Tony Award for Best Play, the Drama Award for Outstanding Play and was one of the final entries for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Now, this critically acclaimed play is all set to be staged in Beng aluru by Alchemy Theatre Society.
What makes this play such a hit is its unpredictable storyline, but the themes explore significant societal questions. It follows Martin Gray, a successful architect, who lives with his family — a wife and son, a n d has just bagged a big project. But when he confides to his best friend that he is in love with someone called Sylvia, his perfect life falls apart. Sylvia is not whom she seems to be. The play be gins with Martin and his wife Stevie preparing for an evening with their best friend Ross. The latter is visiting them to interview Martin on his 50th birthday and him winning the Pritzker Prize (the highest award in the field of architecture). The story progresses with the couple discussing Sylvia and Martin’s son Billy, who has recently come out as gay.
“The story explores three issues — bestiality, homosexuality, and society’s understanding and reaction to them. Another aspect that’s looked at is how society never gives a second chance to people. However, it’s not a tragedy. The play is a tragicomedy,” explains Nikhil Chaudhary, the director w h o i s also cast as Martin. Nikhil first watched the play when he was interning at the University of Leicester in 2016 and had also participated in a dramatic reading of the same. “When I came back to IIT Delhi, where I was studying, I felt the play should be performed for others in college because as IITians, we are so involved in studies and research, most of us are unaware of what’s happening in the outside world. The play explores a different meaning of love, it’s unlike regular love stories,” says Nikhil. When he first staged the play at college, he was skeptical of the audience’s reaction but then when it was well-received, Nikhil staged it for the public in Delhi before the pandemic. Now, it’s premiering in Bengaluru with an all-new cast and crew.
Rs 200 upwards. May 29, 5 pm and 7 pm. At Vyoma ArtSpace and Studio Theatre, JP Nagar
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