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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"Will you dare to turn your back on the living God?",
By
This review is from: Hogan's Goat (Hardcover)
Written as a well developed melodrama, this play by William Albert deals so honestly with men, women, their relationships, and their strivings for success that it ultimately achieves the status of true tragedy. Set in Brooklyn in 1890, the play develops an intense, almost claustrophobic feeling as the characters interact in intimate, two- or three-person scenes and come into conflict. Main character Kathleen Stanton is the devout, young, convent-bred wife of Matt Stanton, an up-by-the-bootstraps Dublin immigrant to Brooklyn. Having met her on a quick trip to London, he married her there in a secret civil ceremony which she has always wanted to legitimize in the church. Now Matt is a candidate for mayor of Brooklyn, and he has promised that once he has won the election, he will seek a church wedding.
For three years before his marriage to Kathleen, Matt had been the lover of Agnes Hogan, an older woman who helped him in his rise to success. Gradually, Matt's history as "Hogan's goat" unfolds as various neighborhood characters reveal bits of information to the audience. Kathleen does not know about Agnes, but Agnes's death and funeral bring the history of Matt and Agnes into the open in a particularly traumatic scene for Kathleen. When Matt faces overt, political conflict with Ned Quinn, the crafty mayor for the past thirty years, Quinn has information with which he intends to blackmail Matt. The local priest, mysteriously, sides with Quinn. As the campaign heats up, the stresses on the marriage of Kathleen and Matt reach the boiling point. Filled with passions arising from conflicting political, social, and personal goals, the play deals with the theme of pride and the foolish sacrifices men make for it, with all the action seen as conflicting with honor, a belief in larger values. For characters like the passionate but devout Kathleen, the larger values are those of the church. For the ambitious Matt, however, the church is an impediment to his success. The full details of the relationship of Agnes Hogan and Matt Stanton are gradually revealed in a shocking conclusion, and as the various characters are brought low by their pride and recognize their failings, the play achieves the status of true tragedy. Mary Whipple
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