|
I don't want to concern myself with the past. I lived in it too long Athol Fugard was born in Middelburg, South Africa in 1932. His full name is Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard and as a child he was known as Hally before he decided he wanted to be called Athol. He is white with English and Afrikaner parents. He was brought up in Port Elizabeth, South Africa with English as his mother tongue. He describes himself as an Afrikaner writing in English.
Fugard went to the University of Cape Town but dropped out just before the exams to hitchhike through Africa. He then became a deck hand on a ship and sailed the world. After some acting experience he started writing plays, almost always set in South Africa and steeped in the politics of the day (apartheid and now post-apartheid). However the politics never affects his insight into people. Like Tennessee Williams, Fugard creates characters with strengths and weaknesses which make them unable to fit into what society requires. And like Williams the plays often have dominant women. Fugard says "[my] real territory as a dramatist is the world of secrets with their powerful effect on human behaviour and the trauma of their revelation. Whether it is the radiant secret in Miss Helen's heart or the withering one in Boesman's or the dark and destructive one in Gladys, they are the dynamos that generate all the significant action in my plays".
Fugard started working in the late 1950´s with a group of actors in Johannesburg, including Zakes Mokae, who were influenced by Strasburg's method acting. Fugard wrote his first play No Good Friday and later his first international success The Blood Knot (which lead to his passport being withdrawn). These plays were performed in The Rehearsal Room. The photo is from the film The Serpent and the Rainbow. In the early 1960´s Fugard returned to Port Elizabeth and worked with The Serpent Players. Their first performance was in the former snake pit of a zoo, hence the name. Fugard played opposite Yvonne Bryceland in Boesman and Lena in 1969 and their friendship led to working with Bryceland and her husband Brian Astbury´s Space Theatre in CapeTown.
The Statement Plays with John Kani and Winston Ntshona were developed here. Fugard has worked with Johannesburg's Market Theatre (below) together with Barney Simon.
Fugard’s plays have been regularly premiered in fringe theatres in South Africa, London (The Royal Court Theatre) and New York. Some of his plays are grouped together. Sometimes this is based on the subject matter (the Port Elizabeth plays), sometimes it is based on a period and style (the Statement Plays). But no category is complete, and there is overlap (The Township and The Statement Plays) and some plays do not easily fit into any categories. Stephen Grey uses alternative categories: Apprenticeship (up to 1957), Social Realism (1958 to1961), Chamber Theatre (1961 to 1970), Improvised Theatre (1966-1973) and Poetic Symbolism (1975 onwards).
What's the use of a little dream. A dream must be big and special. It must be the most special thing you can imagine (Valley Song) In an interview with Sue Fox (Sunday Times 17 June 1988) Fugard says "I need my own space, and need to be able to get up at 6am and listen to the sound of the garden... After some exercise an a breakfast of South Africa muesli... I work from 8am until 1pm. Word processors, typewriters and ballpoints don't work for me. I'm a sensualist writer who need a fountain pen and paper".
Fugard was married to poet and novelist Sheila Meiring Fugard in 1956 but divorced in 2016. She pas published the novels The Castaways, Rite of Passage and A Revolutionary Woman as well as poetry Threshold, Mythic things, The Magic Scattering of a Life.
Lisa Fugard is the daughter of Athol and Sheila. She is a short story writer and also wrote the novel Skinners Drift. She currently teaches creative writing and according to her website she is writing a second novel (click here).
Fugard married Paula Fourie in 2017 and they had two children, Halle and Lanigan. Paula wrote the opening scene of his play The Shadow of the Hummingbird and co-wrote Concerning the Life of Babyboy Kleintjies. The image image is from Broadway World, click here. Athol Fugard passed away in his Stellenbosch home near Cape Town after a long illness on 8 March 2025. I saw Athol Fugard acting in Valley Song in London and I remember his obvious intelligence and humanity, and his stagecraft in guiding a less experienced, though good, young actress. Years later I met him and he was very humble and very kind. I never read reviews and so they don't bother me (Athol Fugard) |
