“Directed with precision by Dean Gabourie, the production featured superlative performances in the two lead roles, with Lucy Peacock exuding sharpness, shock and yet a measure of bruised and bewildered sensitivity as Stevie, who discovers that her husband, played with quietly tortured anguish by Rick Roberts, has fallen in love with—and in fact been conducting a sexual affair with—the animal of the title.

As outlandish as the concept seems, Albee’s play is hardly a mere shocker; on the contrary, it’s a profoundly moving and disturbing exploration of the anarchic power of love and its ability to strike like lightning—and, like lightning, to leave devastation in its wake. Mr. Gabourie’s trenchant production brought out the play’s disorienting ability to make us sympathetic to the unfathomable, and illuminated with a clear-eyed compassion strange and transgressive human behavior.”

“Director Dean Gabourie has let the play unfold slowly but then relentlessly, without sentiment, or holding back. He has directed a bristling production of a provocative play with care and attention.”

“The current production at Stratford is the best I have seen since 2004 and in many ways even better. Director Dean Gabourie understands the greater implications of Albee’s off-putting choice of subject and has beautifully shaped the play in its radical transformation from comedy to tragedy. Of all the plays I’ve seen at Stratford so far, this one stands out as the play that theatre-lovers must not miss…

Every time I have seen the play I see more in it. The current Stratford production provides audiences with the most insightful presentation yet of this modern classic.”

“Dean Gabourie’s creatively nuanced direction demonstrates his high proficiency in interpreting the text and blocking actors in the limited confines of the studio space…

The excellent acting company carries the weight of this fulsome four-hander. Under their inspired director, this cast is fearless…

[Matthew Kabwe] gives a fine performance as an advisor and confidant. His reactions to Martin’s detailed confessions of his extra-marital barnyard affair are wonderful, handling disgust and disbelief with equal gusto. Kabwe has some lovely comedic moments that break the tension, “Martin, this is Sylvia? She’s a goat!” Too bad there weren’t a few more of these moments to quell Ross’s disbelief. He’s a fine comedian.”

“Peacock, Stratford Festival legend that she is, makes a note-perfect Stevie, capturing her ugliness and pity in all their shades. Roberts has the harder job — how on Earth do you make a pedophile in the middle of an affair with a goat likeable? — but he somehow manages to conjure a nuanced, deeply felt individual without absolving him of his actions.

…to the Stratford Festival’s credit, The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia? is one of the company’s more punk-rock programming choices in recent years. Gabourie’s production brings repulsive new meaning to the word “scapegoat,” and asks questions about human sexuality that, in the quarter century since the play’s penning, haven’t become any less taboo.”

“Martin, as played by a vibrating [Rick] Roberts, an expert at playing a man in love with his vices, is so full of anguish over his passion for the goat named Sylvia – which he describes as reciprocal – that he can almost seem sympathetic.”

“The sense of Greek tragedy permeates the play, from its classical, Aristotelian structure to the title itself (the original Greek meaning of tragedy is “goat-song”). At the same time, it’s also a lot funnier than anything penned centuries ago by Aeschylus or Sophocles…Roberts and Peacock triumph in performances that call for everything from innocuous drawing room repartee to deep anguish and despair.”