From left: Charly Azade, Elton Landrew, and Quanita Adams
To celebrate the 80th birthday of South Africa’s leading playwright, Athol Fugard, the Old Mutual Theatre on the Square will be honouring this outstanding theatre luminary with a revival of the classic masterpiece, Boesman and Lena. The theatre also believes that it is also most fitting to pay tribute to Fugard who was most recently honoured at the Tony Award ceremony in the United States for his enormous contribution to international theatre.
The new Boesman and Lena will run from 29 May – 30 June. It will be directed by acclaimed, award-winning director, writer and actor James Ngcobo and will star Quanita Adams and Elton Landrew in the title roles and Charly Azade as Outa. The production will be designed by Nadya Cohen with costumes by Thando Lobese.
In this modern interpretation of the play, director James Ngcobo has chosen to shift the dynamic and explore how more than ever pertinent it is in 2012. His direction of this well-loved Fugard play is fresh and compelling. The character Outa, is played by an East African, which adds another new dynamic to the play.
Boesman and Lena is a small-cast play, set in the Swartkops mudflats just outside Port Elizabeth. In essence it deals with two lonely weather-beaten squatters trapped in a struggle for freedom and dignity. They are on a journey with all their worldly possessions after their shack was bulldozed. The play shows the effect of apartheid on individuals and concerns a coloured man and woman walking from one shanty town to another.
The play has been translated into numerous languages and has been presented worldwide. It explores the complex mosaic of human emotions, racial politics and universal questions of existence.
“I am thrilled to be producing this South African classic, which first premiered in Grahamstown in 1969 starring Athol Fugard and Yvonne Bryceland,” says producer Daphne Kuhn.
The play was filmed by Ross Devenish in 1973 with the original cast and later directed by John Berry for the American movie starring Danny Glover and Angela Basset. “The play plumbs the anger; regret… and self-destructiveness that often accompany poverty and homelessness,” John Berry.
Athol Fugard’s Boesman and Lena was inspired by an incident in 1965 when Fugard was driving down a rural road in South Africa. He noticed an old lady walking along the road in the boiling-hot sun, miles from anywhere, and offered her a lift. She was overcome and cried with gratitude. She told him that her husband had just died and she was walking to another farm. If Fugard hadn’t stopped, she would have spent the night on the side of the road. It was a common practice in apartheid South Africa for farmers to evict worker’s families when the worker died. What struck Fugard was that the woman was in pain and suffering, but was far from defeated.
The inspirational Boesman and Lena promises to entertain and leave you moved.
Bookings are now open for this legendary South African play, which is now a matric setwork. Tickets are available at R130 and R80 for students and pensioners. There are special group bookings discounts for schools (R60) and fund raisers and dinner show packages can be arranged. In addition, on Tuesdays nights, tickets are two for the price of one! Performances will take place from Tuesdays – Friday at 20:15 and Saturdays at 18:00 and 20:30.
The production opens with a week of previews from 29 May and officially on Tuesday 5 June. Bookings can be made by calling the theatre on tel 011 883 8606 or Strictly Tickets on tel 082 553 5903 or book online – www.ticket.co.za or www.theatreonthesquare.co.za.