Home sweet home: a place of love, refuge, and memories. For Helen Martin's it was also her life, her work and her Mecca. In the play "The Road to Mecca" Athol Fugard explores the question: Should we leave our Mecca, our spiritual fountainhead, when we can no longer take care of ourselves? The conflict between the three strong willed characters Helen, Elsa and Pastor Marius explores the question in the light of different religions, cultures, genders, ages and environments. Fugard said the play was suggested by the life and work of Helen Martins of New Bathesda, South Africa. The real Helen from age 50 to 75 transformed her house into a personal universe that enters the realm of archetype, symbol and metaphor. The house, furniture, windows and walls became a kaleidoscope of colored glass. In her garden she constructed over 200 figures: owls, Biblical figures, Buddhas, and ancient gods and goddesses. One South African scholar described her work as one of the most stirring experiences of his life and another called her one of South Africa's artistic geniuses. Fugard in his play shows Helen's creations as a glorious, makeshift oasis of creativity and life force and Elsa, his character, sees Helen as an example of freedom and transcendence. One powerful scene is when Helen, seated in her Mecca with dozens of candles playing off glittered walls and mirrors, tells Pastor Marius "I can't reduce my world to a few ornaments in a small room in an old-age home." The effect is stunning. The play is thought provoking and gives few answers. Helen is alive when it ends. Sadly, in 1975, the real Helen committed suicide. She drank caustic soda and died after three days I solitary agony. Her will included complex instructions listing in detail the ritual disposal of each of her sculptures. But today her home, known as "The Owl House" has been proclaimed a national monument and is a mecca for artists and tourists.

A reclusive elderly widow (based on the late Helen Martins, whose South African home is now a museum) has created her own "Mecca" by decorating the inside of her home with candles and mirrors and by surrounding the house with an assortment of personally-sculpted mermaids, wisemen, peacocks and pyramids. Although her neighbors view Miss Helen as a crazy old woman, she has made friends with Elsa Barlow, a young teacher who has returned for a surprise visit. On that same day, clergyman Marius Byleveld has come to help Helen apply to a nursing home. Marius is fond of Helen and fears for her safety. Elsa is in opposition to a move as it would take Helen away from her art.

I was originally concerned that a drama focusing on an old woman's artwork would not translate well to a listening experience. How could I care as deeply about Miss Helen if I was not able to see the oddball sculptures she had created? Surely the vision of "a city of light and color more splendid than anything I had ever imagined" could not be adequately transmitted through the speakers of my tape player. I need not have worried. One of my favorite parts of the entirely wonderful listen remains the moment when Helen lights her room with candles -- music comes up and there is absolutely no problem seeing a room aglow in a growing light of imagination and art. Adding to the experience is a superb cast performing a well-written examination of what it means to be an artist, what it means to be older, and what it means to be shunned. Fabulous!

Excellent recording quality, an interesting listen.

My Children! My Africa! was the first book I've read ever to make me cry--so much towards the end that I had to put it down. It is the touching tale of a white South African girl who befriends a black South African boy and his teacher, amidst a time of strong racial tension. Their teacher helps them to learn that even though others may be at war, they still have the chance to pave the road to a new, better Africa. Fugard's best play ever!

In My Chindren! My Africa!, Fugard tells the story of a white South African girl who becomes involved in debates with a black South African boy and his teacher, but as the racial tension increases, tragedy becomes inevetable. Fugard tells a powerful story which not only addresses the racially charged South Africa he is from, but race relations and the need to realize the differences between people of race are only skin deep.

"The Captain's Tiger: A Memoir for the Stage" is a superb play by South African writer Athol Fugard. The production history notes that the play received its American premiere in 1998. It's a lean four-character play; the author's note states that two of the characters (the Author and the Tiger) must be performed by the same actor.

The play begins with the Author recalling how, in 1952, he was a young man on a cargo steamship. His job was to be the Captain's Tiger--"a sort of glorified servant." Most of the play actually takes place during this earlier period. While serving on the ship, the Tiger begins to write a novel based on the young womanhood of his Afrikaner mother. He strikes up a friendship with the Donkeyman, a Black African man who works in the engineroom. The other key relationship is between the Tiger and Betty, the main character in his novel. She literally comes to life and has some lively exchanges with the ambitious young writer.

This is a marvelous play. It examines what it means to be an author. Fugard looks at the relationship between the author and his characters, as well as the relationships between the author and the "real" people in his life. This is a coming-of-age story, a story of a friendship that overcomes a language barrier, and is also about coming to terms with painful aspects of one's past. I have never seen this piece actually performed, but I can say that it is an excellent text for reading.

Athol Fugard's three character 1980 play, A Lesson From Aloes, about the struggles of South African's common folk, is a sharp, intimate examination of apartheid and how its accompanying betrayal, mistrust and madness shattered quiet lives. By far, I am sure, these themes are much more exciting when witnessed in performance, but the dialogue, the environments and the depth of feeling that these three people display to each other (as well as to the reader) leave an indelible impression none the less. Although the political situation in South Africa has changed since Fugard's play was first written and performed, the memory and idea of institutionalized racism stills burns, as well it should, and this play can certainly serve as a primer on the destruction of lives, hearts and souls that affected all races and ethnicities in South Africa. Fugard's ultimate point seems to be that although the non-whites were horribly abused, the white factions of the population suffered as well; Through the representation of the three major ethnic groups (the Dutch Afrikaners, the English, and the 90% non-whites) that have held political battle over this beautiful, but harsh country throughout its the turbulent history, Fugard reveals the fact the injustices of apartheid violated humanity as a whole. As Pete and Gladys Bezuidenhuit prepare for the arrival of Steve, Pete's dear friend from the 'resistance' days, we discover that Piet is absorbed in the classification and identification of his aloes collection, and that Gladys seems to suffer from some form of nervousness or paranoia. Absorbed with naming and classifying his aloes ["I've set some space aside for the dwarf species . . ."] Piet represents the Afrikaner obsession with making sure everything is in its proper place and proper order. To Piet, classifying and segregating his aloes is a hobby; to the government ministers of apartheid's complicated system of segregation, it meant control, surveillance, torture and death. Gladys, the characterized envoy from South Africa's British Imperial past, remembers all too well the surveillance and investigations by the South African secret police. It was these investigations, where her personal property was confiscated, that has left this representative of the British South Africa bitter, paranoid and ultimately a fragile, tragic victim of apartheid's ruthlessness. Steve Daniels, a 'Colored Man' as Fugard describes him, is the expected guest of honor along with his wife and 4 children. Piet tells Gladys, much to her envy, that Steve and his family are leaving South Africa for England. Piet awaits Steve's arrival with affectionate expectation, while Gladys awaits nervously, if not fearfully. One of the reasons for these conflicting attitudes towards Steve's arrival is because Steve has been in prison due to his revolutionary activities which were revealed to the secret police by an informer in the group. Fugard heightens this dual anticipation by keeping Steve offstage until the second act of this two act play and when he does arrive, he is alone, leaving his wife and children at home. As Fugard's spokesperson for the vast majority of South Africans, Steve Daniels is a man whose simple ambitions are crushed by a totalarian government in a country that he loves and bitterly regrets wanting to leave. At various times throughout the play all three characters tell stories of their pasts and it is these recollections that give the depth and meaning to their characters' motives and present states of mind. Piet tells of his lonely days on the farm during the drought years when only the aloes would grow and thrive. Steve talks of happier days with his dad but also of the days of torture and prison. Gladys stories of her past begin innocently enough, the first concerning her trip when she was a little girl to the shore near Capetown and the sunburn which caused her mother some concern: "Mommy was terrified that I was going to end up with a brown skin." By the end of the story however, Gladys is accorded the honor of carrying and relating the most horrifying stories of all. Despite the horror and sadness of the play there is plenty of beauty and entertainment value as well. Piet's love of poetry shows him to be one of the more enlightened Afrikaners rather than an insensitive Dutch brute and his recitations, particularly the The Slave's Dream which he shares with Steve, add a constant sense of underlying beauty to the proceedings. In addition the stylish language, there is intrigue and suspense keeping the reader and audience riveted to the developing confrontation between the three characters. Due to Gladys' delicate mental condition brought about through Piet's involvement with revolutionaries (probably the African National Congress) and his subsequent investigation by the secret police, the reader is kept wondering if her shocking statements are the ravings of a mad woman or buried truths that Gladys is powerless to keep buried. Suffice it to say that Fugard's play, far from dated, retells the madness that was apartheid in an exciting and stylish fashion. Far from being a dry polemic on the disasters wrought on South Africa by a ruthless regime, A Lesson From Aloes reveals spiritual desolation in uncompromising and personal terms.

Upon finishing this book I could not help but wonder if there has ever been a work of literature which could transcend the beauty and depth of perception and compassion conveyed in Fugard's "Tsotsi." If anyone reading this knows of such a work, please do feel free to e-mail me so that I can experience what will be the height of greatness.

With the blight of apartheid lifted from South Africa, Athol Fugard, that nation's dominant voice in the theater, turns toward a quieter, more introspective story. It is daring in its simplicity, and absolutely shattering in its emotional impact. Its lovely, rural musings on hope, despair, and growth resonate far beyond the fields the action inhabits. There is an excellent framing device of an author (meant to represent Fugard, himself) in whose perceptual inadequacies we find a mirror for our own. Highly recommended.

We read Master Harold...and the Boys for an English class, and I enjoyed it. It shows how Hally (Master Harold) learns to deal with his thoughts of racism and his father's alcoholism, and the overall problems in South Africa at the time. It is also interesting to compare the play with the movie. Matthew Broderick and others did an excellent job in this, although several lines were cut.

Words and the imagination of the reader are quintessentials of modern drama. Never since Shakespeare do you find such fine and eloquent use of words and language as in Athol Fugard's "Master Harold and the boys." Speech is powerful and has never more been so than in this play

and I've read a LOT of plays. This one was nice, short, thought-provoking and great fun to read. The author makes good use of metaphors and symbolism. It is fascinating, angering, and very enjoyable.

It talks about racism and prejudice, pride and freedom, in interesting and enlightening ways. My mother read it after I did (for school) and has since made all of her friends read it. Everyone should read it, or at least see it, to get a better understanding of racism in South Africa, and an appreciation for our freedoms here in America.

Interesting play about two brothers in South Africa. These brothers are the only characters in the play other than the mentioned absent ones. Disturbing ideas of family values and loyalty. Particularly eerie ending.