FUGARD@86rd A
a g u F l o h t A f o n o i t a t r e b k r e l a e c M e at th
In celebration of the 86th birthday of legendary playwright Athol Fugard, the Market Theatre will present the Fugard@86 season from 4 May to 15 July 2018. Creative Feel spoke to Artistic Director of the Market Theatre, James Ngcobo about the season and the two plays that he has chosen: The Train Driver (4 May to 3 June) and Nongogo (15 June to 15 July).
J
ames Ngcobo has served as artistic director for the
another thing pops up, but the most important thing that
Market Theatre for the past five years, curating
pops up is the truth of this country. He’s always put on
works that have seen an evolution of the space. But,
paper, with honesty, the people of this country.
he says, ‘I am very pragmatic about the fact that you
‘When you read Boesman and Lena for example, at face
can’t satisfy everyone. You need to be an artistic director who
value you judge it and you go, “it’s about bergies living on
has a very clear vision that you can defend at any time, and
the street.” But it’s a love story, it’s about two people and
that’s what I’ve done for five years and it’s what I’m going to
when life was dealing out cards, they got that card there in
carry on doing for another five years.
the streets. Sometimes Boesman says to Lena: “fuck off” but
‘I love the idea of having an eclectic mix in the theatre. I say to my team all the time that we never know what works until we put it on. If you worry that it’s not going to work,
what he’s saying is “hug me, hold me” – he doesn’t have the faculty to be warm.’ So for Fugard@86, Ngcobo says, ‘I had to sit and think
you become a safe theatre, you do only what is done. There
of two plays that could marry each other nicely; plays that
are things that I’ve done at the Market Theatre that I’ll never
articulated his apt hand at being able to write about black
do again, there are things that I’ve done at the Market that I
life and white life in this country.’ Thus, Nongogo (1959) and
want to do more of.’
The Train Driver (2010) were chosen.
With Athol Fugard turning 86 this year, ‘In my view, there
Athol Fugard’s Nongogo is a reflective piece of theatre
isn’t a theatre that should celebrate that milestone but the
and has a long history that is part of the tapestry of South
Market,’ says Ngcobo, ‘Athol Fugard is tied to the hip with
Africa. It is set in the 1950s, a vibrant yet turbulent time in
the Market Theatre.
the history of the country. It takes place in a shebeen in the
‘I always say that Athol Fugard is one of the most
township that is run by a shebeen queen known as Queenie.
beautiful literary giants. When you go through Fugard, for
The show has a beautiful hint of romance that never gets
me it’s like opening a pop-up book. You keep going and
realised at the end. Queenie falls for Johnny, a travelling
20 / Creative Feel / May 2018
