That collateral damage does not spare son Billy in any way. He is 17, but constantly reminded to go to his room or play outside as if he were a small child. Ochoa is a charmer, and his arc leads to a heartbreaking moment that feels straight out of the Greeks, where much of Albee’s script is rooted.
The play’s greatest surprise is saved for the final denouement, which will not be spoiled here. It is a moment jaw-dropping in its scope, thrusting the set into the narrative as its own character. Combined with the play’s brutality in the final horrid tableau, it ends the play with a collection of imagery that sears into the brain.
Joel Ochoa as Billy in Shotgun Players’ production of ‘The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?’ (Ben Krantz)
On the surface, this is a play about bestiality, and a human finding carnal connection with an animal that, while displaying human characteristics, has no capacity for greater yearning. But that’s not all the play is trying to convey. Ultimately, The Goat is about societal taboos, many of them centered on human sexuality — but who determines those, where is the line, and who has the right to draw that line?
Albee asked profound questions in his work, and was thrilled by the absurdity of life, and the mental destruction of human beings toward each other. What exactly is “normal,” anyway? Do affairs occupy different tiers, based on who the affair is with? Is there such thing as perfection in a family?
The legacy of Albee’s masterful text is that there are no easy answers. As The Goat questions every aspect of human sexuality, it also pierces the heart, and forces profound questions that just might destroy one’s sense of what normal really is.
‘The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?’ runs through April 26 at Shotgun Players at the Ashby Stage (1901 Ashby Ave., Berkeley). Tickets and more information here.