Athol+Fugard


 * [[image:af2.jpg width="200" height="301" align="right" caption="Athol Fugard"]]Athol Fugard ** (born 11 June 1932) is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy Award-winning film of his novel //Tsotsi//, directed by Gavin Hood. He is an adjunct professor of playwriting, acting, and directing in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of California, San Diego. For academic year 2000–2001, he was the IU Class of 1963 Wells Scholar Professor at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana. The recipient of many awards, honors, and honorary degrees, including the 2005 Order of Ikhamanga in Silver "for his excellent contribution and achievements in the theatre" from the government of South Africa, he is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

A Short History of His Professional Career:

Fugard publicly supported the Anti-Apartheid Movement (1959–1994), an international boycott of South African theatres due to their segregated audiences, which led to government restrictions on him and surveillance of him and his multi-racial Theatre, The Circle Players, by the Secret Police. This resulted in Fugard having his plays published and produced outside South Africa.

In the 1960s, Fugard formed the Serpent Players, a group of black actors, workers/players, who earned their living not from theatre but from being teachers, clerks, industrial workers etc. This company developed and performed plays under surveillance of the Security Police. The Company's plays utilized minimalist sets and props: made up of whatever materials were available at the time. Their performances were often staged in townships and changed location continuously, moving from place to place. The venues included dimly-lit church halls or community centers and the audiences consisted of poor migrant laborers and the residents of hostels in the townships. The plays presented centered around satiric comic routines rooted in urban African vaudeville and incorporated theatrical techniques of Bertolt Brecht as well as immediate political relevance concerning land distribution. //The Coat//, a play performed by the Serpent Players, was actually based upon political trials involving the Company and dramatized the choices facing a woman whose husband, convicted of anti-apartheid activity, left her only a coat and instructions to use it.

Later on in life, Fugard demonstrated his opposition to injustices committed by both the government and its chief political opposition in his play //My Children! My Africa!// This Play attacked the ANC for deciding to boycott African schools, based on recognition of the damage that boycott would cause a generation of African pupils. In addition to focussing on political issues, some of Fugard's work takes on a more personal approach as with //Master Harold...and the Boys// (1982), //Cousins: A Memoir//, and post-apartheid plays such as V//alley Song, The Captain's Tiger: a memoir for the stage// and the very recent play, //Victory// (2007).

Athol Fugard's latest play, //The Train Driver//, was performed in March 2010 at The Fugard Theatre in The District Six Area of Cape Town, South Africa. His plays are produced internationally, have won multiple awards, and several have been made into films: including among their actors, Fugard himself. Fugard's film debut as a director occurred in 1992 with //The Road to Mecca// (for which he wrote the screenplay and co-directed). Finally, the film adaptation of Athol Fugard's novel, Tsotsi (Afrikaans for hoodlum), written and directed by Gavin Hood, won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2006. (Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athol_Fugard)

Plays:

▪ Klaas and the Devil (1956) ▪ The Cell (1957) ▪ No-Good Friday (1958) ▪ Nongogo (1959) ▪ The Blood Knot (1961); later revised and entitled //Blood Knot// (1987) ▪ Hello and Goodbye (1965) ▪ The Coat (1966) ▪ People Are Living There (1968) ▪ The Last Bus (1969) ▪ Boesman and Lena (1969) ▪ Friday's Bread on Monday (1970) ▪ Sizwe Bansi Is Dead (1972) (developed with John Kani, and Winston Ntshona in workshops) ▪ The Island (1972) (developed with John Kani, and Winston Ntshona in workshops) ▪ Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (1972) ▪ Dimetos (1975) ▪ Orestes (1978) ▪ A Lesson from Aloes (1978) ▪ The Drummer (1980) ▪ Master Harold...and the Boys (1982) ▪ The Road to Mecca (1984) ▪ A Place with the Pigs: a personal parable (1987) ▪ My Children! My Africa! (1989)  ▪ My Life (1992) ▪ Playland (1993) ▪ Valley Song (1996) ▪ The Captain's Tiger: a memoir for the stage (1997) ▪ Sorrows and Rejoicings (2001) ▪ Exits and Entrances (2004) ▪ Booitjie and the Oubaas (2006) ▪ Victory (2007) ▪ Coming Home (2009) ▪ Have you seen Us (2009) ▪ The Train Driver (2010)

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