Athol Fugard was a model for politically engaged playwrights
For example, 'Blood Knot,' which was presented on Broadway in 1985, focuses on a pair of half-brothers who had the same Black mother but different white fathers. One of them, Morris, can pass for white, and the other, Zachariah, cannot.
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When Morris moves to Zachariah's decrepit dwelling in the city's 'colored' section, and as Zachariah begins to explore the possibility of romance with a young white woman, the ugly power dynamic between white and Black — social, familial — asserts itself.
In a 1990 essay in American Theatre magazine, Fugard wrote that in 'Blood Knot' he 'discovered
what
I wanted to talk about and
how
I wanted to talk about it."
In the semi-autobiographical '
Sam has made Hally a kite and taught him to fly it, and also taught him ballroom dancing.
But when Hally learns that his alcoholic, neglectful father is returning home after a lengthy hospital stay, his mood darkens. Finally, in a wrenching moment born of rage, shame, despair, and a deep-seated racism, Hally spits in Sam's face.
An early champion of Fugard's work was Yale Repertory Theatre artistic director Lloyd Richards, who had won a Tony Award in 1960 for his direction of the Broadway premiere of Lorraine Hansberry's 'A Raisin in the Sun.'
Richards had a keen eye for talent. There was another playwright whose work Richards ushered onto the Yale Rep stage in the 1980s: August Wilson.
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Among other things, Fugard's career illustrated what is possible when dramatists are politically engaged. He set an example that could be a useful model for playwrights in our current moment, when
Don Aucoin can be reached at
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