A foreboding atmosphere permeated the minds of theater-goers this weekend as the goat, whose ominous silhouette has borne down on campus for weeks, to ok the stage to answer, once and for all, just who Sylvia was. Opening in a quaint apartment, which remained the play's only setting, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia began with the loving and flirtatious interaction of married couple Martin and Stevie (Jeff Rosenblatt '08 and Kaitlin Kerr '08) as they discussed their everyday goings-on. Things take a turn to the uncomfortable, however, when Martin admits to having an affair with the titular barnyard animal.

The play follows the series of events surrounding this horrible revelation, as Stevie learns more about her husband's extra-agrarian activities from his best friend, Ross (Jahfree Duncan '09), causing a general torrent of shouts, tears and emotion. Joining in the hysteria is the couple's 17-year-old homosexual son Billy (Stefan Isaac '10), who seems to take the most offense to his father's forays into bestiality.

With a cast of only four, the amount of dialogue placed on each character seemed overwhelming, yet the actors carried their roles with comfort and confidence. Throughout the show, the effort the actors put into delivering their lines became increasingly apparent, particularly during Kerr and Rosenblatt's lengthy emotional debate at the play's climax.

The play's sharp wit and unusual sense of humor entertained the audience, which continued to chuckle heartily and cheerfully throughout. Although it would seem, given the play's plot, that the humor presented would be immature and underdeveloped, it remained tasteful through clever wordplay, timing and gesticulation, all expertly delivered by the cast.

Still, The Goat's plot, while unique, lacked an engaging story beyond its initial shock value, despite its knack for both positively stimulating the audience and making them delightfully uncomfortable, at least up to a point. But an audience can laugh only for so long before realizing nothing eventful has happened on the set for a good 15 or 20 minutes. The Goat comes to something of an anti-climax with no real conclusion; while this arguably leaves the audience's collective mind to its own speculation, it left me feeling more frustrated than introspective.

The Goat, or Who is Sylvia, originally written by acclaimed American playwright Edward Albee, premiered on Broadway in 2002 and went on to win the Tony Award for Best Play. Although the Brandeis Players originally attempted to do the play several years ago, they couldn't obtain the rights and the play was postponed until this season. The play's subject matter centers on the idea behind the relative nature of what human beings call love and what is possible and acceptable within those realms.

"The biggest thing people will take away from [The Goat] is thinking differently about the ideas of loved and the boundaries of love," director David Klasko '07 said. "The idea of falling in love with a goat, is that really so absurd?"

The Goat proved a mostly positive experience. When taken for what it is, a presentation of an idea the play succeeds on many levels, showing numerous issues of social acceptance and the relative nature of our own emotions with great skill. While a slightly more propulsive storyline could be applied to such a framework, The Goat still stands on its own two feet as a witty and imaginative piece of theater, worthy of your attention.