Coming Home
Athol Fugard’s latest homecoming to the Fountain Theatre picks up over a decade after his critically acclaimed post-apartheid play “Valley Song” left off with the return of Veronica Jonkers and her young son Mannetije to the small village in Karoo.
Much is the same from when Veronica took the “Railway Bus” to Johannesburg to pursue her dreams of becoming a famous singer. Childhood friend, Alfred, still longs for a bicycle, kindly Oupa’s “little miracles”—white pumpkin seeds rattle inside his small tin, and the spit of land—the Akkers, still yields a harvest with a little luck of rain.
What has changed is Veronica. Now a grown woman and a single mother, her years away from Oupa’s protective enclave have met with bittersweet disillusionment. Setting aside her youthful ambition for the sake of her son, Veronica echoes the selfless sentiments of Oupa, the grandfather who raised her, and represents the disappointment of a generation of South Africans since the fall of apartheid—that nothing has changed after all—and hope for a better future must be nurtured in the next generation today.
Change, which was central to Fugard’s “Valley Song,” still lies at the heart of his “Coming Home,” but with a difference in attitude. Gone are the idealized pursuits of the individual, replaced by a mature sense of self-preservation within the family and home. Without an understanding of the past, Fugard symbolically predicts, the future has nowhere to take root and grow heard in Veronica’s plea to Alfred from her deathbed, “Tell him stories about the past so that he won’t forget. Please don’t let him forget me!”
Fugard’s faithful accounts in his recent plays, such as his award-winning “Victory” in 2007, reveal the struggle and emotional turmoil brought about by a persistent class distinction, lack of opportunity and the overwhelming sense of apathy that governs social policies. His plays empathetically chronicle the shifting attitudes from hope and optimism after the abolition of apartheid as in “Valley Song” to the growing realties that threaten to undermine the hard-won democracy in the ironically titled “Victory.” In his new play, however, Fugard shines a harsh but illuminating light on the silent, but deadly epidemic of HIV/AIDS ravaging communities and destroying families, which as his play suggests, has the potential, like a late frost, to destroy the future.
As of last year, 4 out of 10 pregnant women were HIV positive and the year before the disease orphaned as many as 1.4 million South African children. Lack of education, too few clinics, fear of stigmatization, and ignorance such as treating the disease “with a diet of bananas, garlic and olive oil,” as the South African minister of health prescribed, supported by President Thabo Mbeki have fostered a fear based environment from which the disease runs rampant. The once winsome, starry-eyed girl with big dreams too large for the red valley to hold her is a victim, struggling to live long enough with a disease she cannot hope to treat for fear she will lose her last, enduring hope, Mannetije.
It is a painful and heart-wrenching conclusion to the tenderly wrought “Valley Song,” but given the current anxiety and atmosphere in South Africa, Fugard does what he does best, with poetic honesty and lucid foresight. Referring to “Valley Song” with reenacted scenes between Veronica and the ghostly memory of Oupa such as Veronica’s appeal to leave the valley and sing “to lots of people” and her coming home as a baby to live with her grandparents after her mother’s death all establish Fugard’s main idea that the past through oral tradition must be preserved. Aside from Veronica’s guilt, it is the teachings of Oupa that remain, if in memory only, and the land he cared for so fervently that cares for her and her son.
Part of the wonderful, but tragic charm of “Coming Home” is seeing another perspective of Veronica, but particularly pleasing is the role of Alfred, previously only a mentioned character in “Valley Song.” His is a story of loyalty, as he stays behind to help and learn how to farm the Akkers with Oupa, even to the old man’s dying day underneath the shade of the walnut tree. In Veronica’s most vulnerable, urgent moment of need, Alfred comes through, by a bit of arm-twisting that is purely touching. He is Veronica’s rock and her audience as she tells him her story, her trials and shortcomings in a confessional that is deeply moving and profound in its implications. A mama’s boy, Alfred is not without his own personal demons, and in a spellbinding conflict with resentful Mannetije, both find common ground and mutual respect as son and friend. Family, then, is not by blood alone, as Fugard suggests, but kin to community.
Manipulating time through his characters is one of Fugard’s brilliant abilities as a storyteller and commentator. Through wise Oupa, the past is revealed, the present seeks resolution through Veronica and Alfred, and the future rests squarely on the small shoulders of clever, erudite Mannetije, whose Akkers is his writing tablet and his seeds are the words he sets down to shape and mold new ideas in a land ready to be tilled.
Stephen Sachs proves once again to be up for the task that Fugard sets out for him. Seamlessly transitioning time and space, Sachs delves the text with feeling sensitivity while providing plenty of identifiable tension and moments of splendid release in Veronica’s songs.
The set design by Laura Fine Hawkes of Oupa’s single-room dwelling is perfect, detailed down to the carefully strewn dirt on the floor and the broken mortar along the wings. Hawkes keen eye and respect for Fugard’s script is evidenced in the second act with thoughtfully placed pictures of wild animals hung over Mannetije’s bed, and his schoolboy drawings hung with motherly pride over hers. The use of water in the working sink creates an excellent background noise during one of the most revealing scenes, a cleansing admission by Veronica to Alfred. Christian Epps is simply a master with light, finding just the right amount of shadow, hue, and luster, fully capturing an evocative ambiance.
The cast is what any can expect in this play, and rise to the occasion to fill the shoes originally played in “Valley Song” by LisaGay Hamilton and the author himself. Two young actors play the dual role of Mannetije, irresistible Timothy Taylor at age five, and Matthew Elam at age 10 is strong and versatile, more than holding his own in his scenes with Alfred and Oupa. Thomas Silcott fleshes out the comic Alfred with enjoyable enthusiasm and layers of subtle complexity. Deidrie Henry is nothing short of extraordinary and is one of the best to play Fugard’s strong female roles. Oupa is the magic in both plays, and Adolphus Ward is mesmerizing and not even Fugard could hold a candle to Ward’s feeling performance.
Although the book on apartheid is closed, the annals since have yet been writ with any clear, definitive vision for the future, apart from Fugard’s latest post-apartheid plays which are prologues for a shared, hopeful vision of South Africa, its people and most importantly, its legacy in family through story.
“Coming Home”
Runs through August 29
Thurs, Fri, and Sat at 8pm
Sundays at 2pm
Dark on Sat, July 4
Fountain Theatre
5060 Fountain Ave.
LA, CA 90029
(Corner of Fountain & Normandie)
PH: 323-663-1525
www.FountainTheatre.com