RENOWNED South African playwright, novelist, actor and director, Athol Fugard, who died on Sunday at the age of 92, will forever be remembered for using arts to rouse the consciences of international audiences in support of the anti-apartheid struggle.
In his career spanning 70 years, he penned more than 30 plays.
His first theatrical work, The Rehearsal Room, rejected the segregationist policies of the time. It featured a multiracial cast when apartheid laws sought to divide South Africans. This defiant stance led to many of his works being censored and banned by the government. He collaborated across racial lines.
The Eastern Cape-born legend initially dived into acting but later found a passion for writing and theatre.
He moved to Johannesburg in 1958, and worked as a clerk in a Native Commissioners’ Court, where he became “keenly aware of the injustices of apartheid”. His good friendship with prominent local anti-apartheid figures had a profound influence on him.
In 1958, he produced No Good Friday, starring alongside Zakes Mokae, followed by Nongogo (Prostitute) in 1959. Some of his popular plays include The Blood Knot, The Coat, Sizwe Banzi is Dead, and The Island.
Several of his plays were adapted into films, including ‘Boesman and Lena’, ‘Master Harold and the Boys’, ‘Tsotsi’ and ‘The Road to Mecca’. He performed the role of General Jan Smuts in Richard Attenborough’s film, ‘Gandhi’.
Those who had the opportunity to work closely with Fugard described him as determined, focused, open, kind, generous and unmatchable.
Daniel Galloway, who was managing director of The Fugard Theatre - bearing the name of the late legend between 2010 and 2020, said Fugard was a gentle, considerate professional who took the time to make everyone he ever worked with feel seen and valued.
“This has a major impact on how I shaped my own career in the theatre. Athol was deeply supportive of the work we undertook at the beautiful theatre in Cape Town that bore his name. He was always first to call to commiserate or congratulate. He was sincerely present and available and always ready to listen,” Galloway said.
He added that Fugard’s kindness, fierce determination to create the best theatre offerings he could and his unwavering human-centric approach to life made the most significant impact.
“He treated people from all walks of life with remarkable humility. He assumed nothing and took the time to find out if he needed to. Athol approached life and all those he met along the way with gentleness and kindness,” Galloway said.
The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 forced the closure of The Fugard Theatre. The theatre later re-opened as The Homecoming Centre.
Legendary playwright, director, actor and long-term friend of Fugard, Dr John Kani, said they (Fugard and Winston Ntshona) worked together through the very difficult times of the 1960s, creating and performing in plays that examined the conditions under which Black people lived during Apartheid.
He said this immediately attracted the interest of the Security Police who hounded the group’s every performance and even extended to their private lives.
“However, through all these difficult times Athol stayed with us.”
This was the time Fugard returned to Port Elizabeth, and collaborated with The Serpent Players, an innovative theatre group that performed in unconventional spaces, including an abandoned zoo snake pit.
Kani said: “Athol was my brother and my comrade in the struggle for the liberation of our country – and my friend for life. No one can tell the story of protest theatre without mentioning the names of Athol Fugard, Winston Ntshona and myself.
“Now, with their deaths, I must accept that my two beautiful friends, Winston and Athol, are gone. Now I feel so alone. My only comfort are the memories of these two giants of the South African theatre and the struggle for a better life for all.
“Athol believed in me and my anger and I believed in him and his cool temperament and that the use of words is a more powerful weapon of change. I will miss him very much.”
He added that in 1972 he, Winston, Fugard created Sizwe Banzi Is Dead and in 1973 together they created The Island and as they say ‘the rest is history’.
Award-winning film producer Anant Singh expressed sadness about Fugard's death.
“I was inspired by Athol when I started out in the film industry in the 1980s, as he was a role model through his work in protest theatre. As a long-time admirer of his, I was thrilled to collaborate with him on the film adaptation of ‘The Road to Mecca’, in which he also starred alongside Yvonne Bryceland and Academy Award winner, Kathy Bates,” Singh said.
He added that Fugard’s passing leaves a huge void in the South African theatre landscape, but he leaves a rich legacy of thought-provoking works for generations to come.
Minister of Sport, Arts, and Culture, Gayton McKenzie described Fugard as a fearless storyteller who laid bare the harsh realities of apartheid through his plays, giving a voice to those silenced by oppression.
“His impact on South African theatre and the global stage is immeasurable, and his legacy will continue to resonate for generations. We were cursed with apartheid but blessed with great artists who shone a light on its impact and helped to guide us out of it. We owe a huge debt to this late, wonderful man,” McKenzie said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa lauded Fugard as “an extraordinary storyteller in extraordinary times, and the moral conscience of a generation.”
“Beyond the impressive body of work that he has left behind, Athol Fugard will be remembered for being an outlier amongst the millions of white South Africans who blithely turned a blind eye to the injustices being perpetrated in their name,” Ramaphosa said.
Fugard received the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver in 2005 for his outstanding contributions to theatre.
Cape Times