The recent furore over a DA youth poster, led to some interesting comments in the newspapers - some commented that it was a cheap marketing ploy, others commented against the naked models in the posters and off course there were commnents on the inter-racial couple itself. In many respects, the timing of the poster couldn't be a better advertisement for the staging of one of Athol Fugard's earliest plays.
The Fugard Theatre is off course an apt location for the performance of an Athol Fugard play (I believe that the theatre and the playright are not directly connected). Located in District Six, in a renovated old building; and in its young lifetime it has hosted some impressive acts (as advertised prominently on the lobby walls). It has a strange combination of formalism and informalism at the same time - M commented at the fact that it was probably the most well dressed crowd she had come across in Cape Town (and we were very much under dressed in t-shirts and jeans); while they also happily let you take your drinks from the bar into the theatre with no issues.
If you felt that the DA poster was inciteful, then don't bother with going to the play - not only is the play about inter-racial relationship (under apartheid) but the two main characters are also nude throughout. Set in a time when inter-racial relationships were illegal, the play is about the relationship between a single, white librarian (played by Bo Petersen) and a slightly younger, coloured school principal (played by Malefane Mosuhli). The set and lighting design is deceptively simple; but very effective - and you almost don't notice that all the actors are actually on stage when you go in to take your seat.
It starts of slowly; and almost too dramatically. But as the story evolves, it pulls the audience in and the flowery monologues disappear. It is not a happy story, and after the performance Mr Mosuhli commented that he hoped it didn't spoil my evening. It's a story that is still relevant; because, as the DA poster controversy revealed, we still have a long way to go. The play runs till 11 Feb, if you are in Cape Town - go. And if you aren't, maybe it will come to your neck of the woods.
The Fugard Theatre is off course an apt location for the performance of an Athol Fugard play (I believe that the theatre and the playright are not directly connected). Located in District Six, in a renovated old building; and in its young lifetime it has hosted some impressive acts (as advertised prominently on the lobby walls). It has a strange combination of formalism and informalism at the same time - M commented at the fact that it was probably the most well dressed crowd she had come across in Cape Town (and we were very much under dressed in t-shirts and jeans); while they also happily let you take your drinks from the bar into the theatre with no issues.
If you felt that the DA poster was inciteful, then don't bother with going to the play - not only is the play about inter-racial relationship (under apartheid) but the two main characters are also nude throughout. Set in a time when inter-racial relationships were illegal, the play is about the relationship between a single, white librarian (played by Bo Petersen) and a slightly younger, coloured school principal (played by Malefane Mosuhli). The set and lighting design is deceptively simple; but very effective - and you almost don't notice that all the actors are actually on stage when you go in to take your seat.
It starts of slowly; and almost too dramatically. But as the story evolves, it pulls the audience in and the flowery monologues disappear. It is not a happy story, and after the performance Mr Mosuhli commented that he hoped it didn't spoil my evening. It's a story that is still relevant; because, as the DA poster controversy revealed, we still have a long way to go. The play runs till 11 Feb, if you are in Cape Town - go. And if you aren't, maybe it will come to your neck of the woods.
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