Finally, a moment with Fugard

Before coming to South Africa, my dad told me about one of his favorite playwrights, Athol Fugard, and insisted that I seek out going to a play of his, going to his theatre or really finding him, meeting him and interviewing him.

When I first arrived in Cape Town, I was happy to see a huge sign on the side of a building on Main Road saying "Fugard Theatre," so for a while, I thought that the theatre was right there and so close to my house, which was great. However, when the sign disappeared, I knew something was wrong, and then when I found out that building is actually a CIEE house with students living in it, I knew that it definitely was not the Fugard Theatre.

Yet, after a little bit of searching online, I discovered the actual Fugard Theatre, which is located in District 6. I knew I couldn't come back to the States without going to the Fugard Theatre because my dad just wouldn't like that, so I made plans with Tommy, a guy in my house who is an actor, and we went to the Fugard Theatre to see Bird Watchers, a show written and directed by Fugard about his time in the Eastern Cape with two good friends.

The show started off a bit slow at first, but by intermission, I felt in touch with the three characters. I was happily surprised by the way in which the second act was constructed -- a time change to 30 years after the first act. The plot became very intense and the characters grew more complex. Tommy and I both agreed that there's something about Fugard's writing that is just so amazing. The dialogue is easy to understand, but is almost poetic in a way. As an audience member, I can tell that Fugard thinks about and chooses each word very carefully. 

Pointing at "Victory," the play my dad directed this past semester at Virginia State University, in a long list of all of Fugard's plays.