Displaying items by tag: Edward Albee

It’s hard to imagine a time in which Edward Albee was considered an “emerging” playwright, but his first play, ‘The Zoo Story’ failed to impress New York producers in 1958. Of course, the play has since gone on to become a classic and is currently being revived by new-to-Chicago Gwydion Theatre Company.

Edward Albee always felt like something was missing from his two-character, one-act play about a man whose peaceful afternoon reading in the park is disrupted by a seemingly unstable young man. In the early 2000s, he eventually wrote a prequel called ‘Homelife” and the two plays are usually performed as ‘Edward Albee’s Home at the Zoo.’ Albee would eventually restrict the performing rights for ‘The Zoo Story’ in favor of the complete play.

In the years since Albee’s death, his estate has eased up on some of his more stringent demands when it came to performance rights. As such, Gwydion’s revival is a somewhat rare opportunity to see Albee’s text performed as it was originally conceived. Though, it’s fairly clear why Albee added a first act to this odd little play.

It should come as no surprise that this play, like many of his others, is linguistic gymnastics relying heavily on good casting for cohesion. Thankfully this production is in good hands with Bob Webb as distinguished Peter and Grayson Kennedy as stark, raving Jerry. Under Morgan Wilson’s direction, the play leaps off the page and becomes a story with a rhythm you can follow.

Sparse staging really turns the focus onto the back-and-forth power play between Jerry and Peter and ultimately asks the question: what do either of these characters really want? Albee doesn’t necessarily make that so clear, leaving it up to the audience to come to their own conclusions. Both Kennedy and Webb spar well off one another in what actually feels like fairly modern dialogue, despite some outdated mid-century turns-of-phrase.

It's not often you get to see ‘The Zoo Story’ as it was originally produced, and it’s always exciting when a new theater company opens in Chicago. If this production is any indication, the future looks bright for Gwydion Theatre Company.

Through October 15 at Greenhouse Theater Center. 2257 N Lincoln Ave boxoffice@greenhousetheater.org

Has there ever been a more capable playwright to handle bestiality than Edward Albee? ‘The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?’ is probably Albee’s last great play after a decade-spanning career that garnered handfuls of Tonys and Pulitzers. ‘The Goat’ was shortlisted for the 2003 Pulitzer and the original Broadway production even included Sally Field. While the plot may be discouraging to some theater-goers, only Albee could heighten such an absurd subject matter to dark comedy and intellectual discourse.

Interrobang Theatre Project kicks off their ninth season; “identity/crisis” with ‘The Goat’. Under James Yost’s direction, this intimate production is sleek and faithful to Albee’s script. It’s notably challenging to bring anything truly original to an Albee play as he was known to be very strict regarding artistic interpretation. With a solid play like ‘The Goat’ there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, only to stage the best production of it you can.

Yost has assembled a great cast to tell this prickly tale. Tom Jansson plays Martin, the main character around which the play takes place. Martin and his wife Stevie (Elana Elyce) enjoy an idyllic upper middle-class lifestyle, a happy marriage and a lovely home. They’re open-minded about their son’s sexual orientation and even joke about how perfect their life together is. It’s when Martin confesses he’s having an affair that the play takes a turn. Martin jokes that his mistress is a goat, but we quickly learn it’s no joke at all.

This is not easy dialogue to make convincing. Albee even somewhat references that through Stevie. Knowing is one thing, believing is another. Elana Elyce delivers a powerhouse performance as the wife of a man copulating with a farm animal. Her final monolog grounds the absurdity of the plot in a devastating reality. Though, it’s the character of Martin that the play’s authenticity relies. Tom Jansson never loses the audience. His love for the goat he’s named Sylvia is abhorrent, but like Nabokov’s Humbert Humbert, we’re inclined to root for him in some way. Jansson’s performance is one an audience can trust and laugh with, even when they shouldn’t.

The synopsis of ‘The Goat’ may seem like some sort of circus attraction to be seen only for shock value. Albee’s genius is that he’s able to touch on several kinks and sexual proclivities and put up for debate why one is acceptable and the other is not. What is the difference between love and lust? Do we have a choice about what turns us on, or is it nature rather than nurture? Even in a post legal gay marriage American, some religious fundamentalists still liken homosexuality to bestiality or pedophilia. Perhaps there are some taboos that are just too far for acceptance. Albee’s ambition was to get us to examine ourselves and to start a dialogue. This play will surely do that.

Through October 6th at Ridendell Theatre. 5779 N Ridge Ave. 312-219-4140