An In-depth interview with Athol Fugard, distinguished South African playwright, novelist, actor and director reported by Time magazine to be “the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world”.
Recorded in the Karoo town of Nieu-Bethesda in 1992 by Tekweni TV Productions tekweni@iafrica.com
Chapters :
- Why Fugard chooses playwriting to express himself. 00:02:18
- The influence of the Karoo on Athol Fugard’s writing. 00:08:09
- The influence of Tennessee Williams, O’Neill, Odets Beckett and Faulkner on Fugard’s work. 00:09:17
- Athol Fugard says Existentialism is integral to his work. 00:14:18
- “People are Living There “ with Bryceland was one of the most joyous experiences in Fugard’s career. 00:21:27
- Women in Fugard’s plays are more affirmative than men. 00:22:40
- Fugard says his limited sense of history is reflected in some of his characters. 00:24:40
- Fugard shares his thoughts on his strong sense of pre-history and how it has affected his work. 00:26:43
- Fugard defends his stand on writing about the realities of black South Africans. 00:30:42
- Influence of Grotowskian technique on Fugard’s work. 00:32:20
- Fugard allows input by actors during rehearsals of his new plays. 00:35:45
- “Master Harold and the Boys” is the most autobiographical of Fugard’s plays. 00:37:16
- Fugard on the autobiographical elements in “Playland” ,“My children, my Africa” “A Place with Pigs”and “Dimetos”. 00:38:43
- Living rather than portraying his character in “The Guest” led to it taking over Fugard’s life. 00:45:48
- “Playland” is Fugard’s metaphor for the imaginary world that many white South Africans live in. 00:51:29
- “My Children, my Africa” was Fugard’s response to the School Boycott initiated by the ANC, which he describes as one of this country’s greatest social disaster. 00:56:48
- Athol Fugard says his plays are best seen in a theatre rather than on film and TV. 01:02:00
- Fugard found moving from stage to film as an actor in “The Road to Mecca” challenging. 01:11:00
- Fugard says he was also telling his own story in “The Road to Mecca. 01:03:00
- Fugard says he owes Yvonne Bryceland an enormous debt of gratitude. 01:07:00
- “The Island”, “Statement’s under the Immorality Act” and “Sizwe Bansi is Dead” evolved from Fugard’s experimentation in improvised theatre with the Serpent Players. 01:13:00
- Fugard’s “No Good Friday” and “Nongogo” grew out of the vibrancy of township life in Sophiatown. 01:17:00
- In “The Blood Knot” Athol Fugard found his own voice as a writer. 01:19:00
- Fugard has found working in the United States highly stimulating. 01:24:00
- Fugard’s difficult early years staging plays in South Africa. 01:26:00
- The somber mood in ‘Lesson From Aloes”, reflects Fugard’s despair at South Africa’s political situation in 1979. 01:28:00
- Fugard warns of a new type of censorship that views any art not subordinating itself to a struggle, as irrelevant. 01:30:00
