Raves, yes, but many don’t get Albee’s ‘Goat’

“This was the most disturbing experience I’ve been through in my life. Why did you subject us to this? I’d love a refund! Cancel the play immediately! The acting was great.”

So wrote a theatergoer who has seen “The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?” at the Mark Taper Forum.

Edward Albee’s provocative comedy about a man who tells his wife he’s having an affair with a goat has generated more mailed and e-mailed comments than any other that Jim Royce, Center Theatre Group’s production marketing director, can recall. So he decided to post some reactions on the CTG website, www.taperahmanson.com.

At last count, nearly 125 responses were online. More will be added as the play continues through March 20. Most are positive. But Royce says he’s omitted some of the favorable remarks while including every negative one. “I don’t want to be perceived as skewing it toward the positive,” he says.

Most of the reactions are extreme. “Wow! I think that was the best written play I’ve ever seen.... I’m going to have to think about what all it means, I’m too stunned now,” wrote one fan.

From the opposite camp came this: “Truly awful. Worst play I’ve ever seen! Painful to watch. Too strange for words!” Another correspondent deemed it unfit for the Taper, “more like something you would find in a small disgusting theatre.”

Royce says he didn’t know whether he’ll continue such postings with less controversial shows.