Athol Fugard
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Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard (born in 1932), better known as Athol Fugard, is a well-known South African playwright.
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Overview
Although he was born in Middleburg (in the Cape Province), his family soon moved to Port Elizabeth. In 1938, he enrolled at the Marist Brothers College – a Catholic primary school. After being awarded a scholarship, he enrolled at the local technical college for his secondary education .He then enrolled in the University of Cape Town but dropped out. He sailed around the world working on ships (mainly in the Far East). Fugard married Sheila Meiring (a novelist and poet in her own right) in September 1956. They started the Circle Players in Port Elizabeth before moving to Johannesburg where he was employed as a court clerk.
Working in the court environment and seeing how the Africans suffered under the pass laws provided Fugard with a first-hand insight into the injustice and pain of apartheid.
Working with a group of black actors (including Zakes Mokae), Fugard wrote his first play No Good Friday. Returning to Port Elizabeth in the early 1960’s, he worked with a group of actors whose first performance was in the former snake pit of the zoo, hence the name The Serpent Players.
The political slant of his plays bought him into conflict with the government. In order to avoid prosecution, he started to take his plays overseas. After Blood Knot was produced in England, his passport was withdrawn for four years. In 1962, he publicly supported an international boycott against segregated theatre audiences which lead to further restrictions.
He worked extensively with two black actors John Kani and Winston Ntshona and workshopped three plays viz. Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, The Island and Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act.
The early plays workshopped with Kani and Ntshona were staged in black areas for a night and then the cast moved to the next venue – probably a dimly lit church hall or community centre. The audience was normally poor migrant labourers and the residents of hostels in the townships. The plays at this time were political and mirrored the frustrations in the lives of the audience. It really was live theatre – the audience used be drawn in to the drama, applauding, crying and interjecting. The plays were workshopped in the fullest sense of the word. Fugard used the feedback to improve the plays – expanding the parts that worked and deleting some that didn’t.
For example in Siwze Banzi is Dead migrant worker Sizwe Bansi can only survive by assuming someone else’s identity and getting the important apartheid pass in order to get a job. When he debates how Sizwe would effectively “die” and whether the sacrifice would be worth it, the audience would cry out “Go on. Do it” because they appreciated that without a pass you were effectively a non-entity.
Sets and props were improvised from whatever was available which helps to explain the minimalist sets that productions of these plays utilise. In 1971, the restrictions against Fugard were eased, allowing him to travel to England in order to direct Boesman and Lena.
Master Harold...and the Boys, written in 1982 is a semi-autobiographical work.
Fugard showed he was against injustice on both sides of the fence with his play My Children! My Africa! where he attacked the ANC for deciding to boycott African schools as he realised the damage it would cause a generation of African pupils.
With the demise of apartheid, Fugard’s first two postapartheid plays Valley Song and The Captain's Tiger focused on personal rather than political issues.
His plays are regularly produced and have won many awards (see below). Some have been filmed. Fugard made his directorial debut in 1992 with the film version of The Road to Mecca.
Iain Fisher has broken his plays into the following periods: Apprenticeship (up to 1957), Social Realism (1958 to 1961), Chamber Theatre (1961 to 1970), Improvised Theatre (1966 - 1973) and Poetic Symbolism (1975 onwards).
Plays
- Statements 1974 ISBN 0192811703 Oxford University Press
- Three Port Elizabeth plays : The blood knot; Hello and goodbye; Boesman and Lena 1974 ISBN 0192113666 Oxford University Press
- Sizwe Bansi is dead, and, The island 1976 ISBN 0670647845 Viking Press
- The Guest : an episode in the life of Eugene Marais / Athol Fugard and Ross Devenish ISBN 1977 0949937363 AD. Donker
- Die besoeker : 'n episode in die lewe van Eugene Marais / Athol Fugard en (and) Ross Devenish ; vertaal deur (translated by) Wilma Stockenstrom. 1977 ISBN 0949937436 AD. Donker (This is a Afrikaans translation of The guest)
- Dimetos and two early plays 1977 ISBN 0192113909 Oxford University Press
- Boesman and Lena and other plays 1980 ISBN 0195701976 Oxford University Press
- Selected plays of Fugard 1980 ISBN 0582781299 Longman
- A lesson from aloes : a play 1981 Oxford University Press
- Marigolds in August 1982 ISBN 086852008X Ad. Donker
- Boesman and Lena 1983 ISBN 0195703316 Oxford University Press
- People are living there 1983 ISBN 0195703324 Oxford University Press
- The road to Mecca : a play in the two acts : suggested by the life and work of Helen Martins of New Bethesda 1985 ISBN 0571136915 Faber
- Selected plays : 'Master Harold' and the boys 1987 ISBN 0192819291 Oxford University Press (Comprises Master Harold and the boys -- Blood Knot (new version) -- Hello and Goodbye -- Boesman and Lena)
- A Place with the pigs : a personal parable 1988 ISBN 0571151140 Faber and Faber
- My children! My Africa! and selected shorter plays / Athol Fugard ; edited by Stephen Gray 1990 ISBN 1868141179 Witwatersrand University Press
- Blood knot and other plays 1991 ISBN 1559360194 Theatre Communications Group
- The blood knot 1992 ISBN 0195707591 Oxford University Press
- Playland-- and other words 1992 ISBN 1868142191 Witwatersrand University Press
- Master Harold --and the boys 1993 ISBN 0195708741 Oxford University Press
- The Township plays 1993 edited by Dennis Walder ISBN 0192829254 Oxford University Press (Comprises No-good Friday -- Nongogo -- The Coat -- Sizwe Bansi Is Dead)
- Cousins : a memoir 1994 ISBN 1868142787 Witwatersrand University Press
- Hello and goodbye 1994 ISBN 0195710991 Oxford University Press
- Valley song 1996 ISBN 0571179088 Faber and Faber
- The captain's tiger 1997 ISBN 1868143244 Witwatersrand University Press
- Athol Fugard : plays 1998 ISBN 0571190936 Faber and Faber
- Interior plays 2000 ISBN 0192880357 Oxford University Press
- Port Elizabeth plays 2000 ISBN 0192825291 Oxford University Press
- EXITS AND ENTRANCES (2004) Made its world premiere at The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles with Morlan Higgins and William Dennis Hurley
Books
- Notebooks. 1960-1977 1983 ISBN 086852011X Ad. Donker
- Tsotsi : a novel 1989 ISBN 0868521418 Ad. Donker
Films of his plays
- 1976 Boesman and Lena
- 1984 Master Harold and the Boys
- 1984 Marigolds in August
- 1992 The Road to Mecca
- 2000 Boesman and Lena
Films appeared in
- 1976 Boesman and Lena played Boesman
- 1977 The Guest At Steenkampskraal played Eugene Marais
- 1979 Meetings with Remarkable Men played Professor Skridlov
- 1982 Gandhi played General Smuts
- 1984 The Killing Fields played Doctor Sundesval
- 1984 Marigolds in August played Paulus Olifant
- 1992 The Road to Mecca played the Reverend Marius Byleveld
Awards
- Obie Award
- 29th Annual Tony Award
- New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards
- Writers Guild Awards for Outstanding Achievement
- 1986 - Evelyn F. Burkey Memorial Award - Athol Fugard and Lloyd Richards
- The Audie Awards
- 1999 - Theatrical Productions - The Road to Mecca
See also
External links
- The Literary Encyclopedia entry for Athol Fugard (http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1651)
- An Athol Fugard site by Iain Fisher (http://www.iainfisher.com/fugard.html)de:Athol Fugard