Blood Knot and Other Plays - Athol Fugard

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       BLOODKNOT

       and

       OTHER PLAYS

      BOOKS BY ATHOL FUGARD

      AVAILABLE FROM TCG

       The Captain’s Tiger: A Memoir for the Stage

       Cousins: A Memoir

       Exits and Entrances

       A Lesson from Aloes

       Marigolds in August and The Guest

      My Children! My Africa!

       Notebooks: 1960–1977

       Playland and A Place With The Pigs

       The Road to Mecca

       Sorrows and Rejoicings

       Statements

       Valley Song

BLOODKNOT and OTHER PLAYS __ ATHOLFUGARD THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP1991

      Blood Knot is copyright © 1963, 1964, 1985 by Athol Fugard Hello and Goodbye is copyright © 1970 by Athol Fugard Boesman and Lena is copyright © 1989 by Athol Fugard

      Blood Knot and Other Plays is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc., 520 Eighth Ave., 84th Fl., New York, NY 10018-4156.

      All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

      Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this material, being fully protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and all other countries of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions, is subject to a royalty. All rights including, but not limited to, professional, amateur, recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are expressly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of this book by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from the author’s representative: William Morris Agency, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019;(212) 586–5100.

      This publication is made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.

      TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.

      Glossary reprinted from Selected Plays by Athol Fugard, by kind permission of Oxford University Press. Copyright © 1987 by Dennis Walder.

      LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

      Fugard, Athol.

      Blood knot, and other plays / Athol Fugard.

      Contents: Blood knot—Hello and goodbye—Boesman and Lena.

      I. Title.

      PR9369.3.F8A6 1991

      822–dc20 90–29029

      CIP

      Cover design by The Sarabande Press

      First Edition, May 1991

      Third Printing, February 2008

      elSBN 978-1-55936-687-8

       CONTENTS

       Hello and Goodbye

       Boesman and Lena

      The Blood Knot (original title) was first presented in the United States by Sidney Bernstein and Lucille Lortel at the Cricket Theatre on March 2, 1964, under the direction of John Berry. Set design was by John Bury, costume design by Martha Gould and lighting design by Harold Baldridge. The cast was as follows:

MORRIS J.D. Cannon
ZACHARIAH James Earl Jones

      The play’s world premiere took place at the Rehearsal Room of the African Music and Drama Association, Johannesburg, South Africa, September 3, 1961, under the author’s direction and with the following cast:

MORRIS Athol Fugard
ZACHARIAH Zakes Mokae

      The 25th Anniversary Production of the revised Blood Knot was produced by the Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut, September 17, 1988, also under the author’s direction. Sets were designed by Rusty Smith, costumes by Susan Hilferty and lights by William B. Warfel. Mr. Fugard and Mr. Mokae recreated their original roles.

      CHARACTERS

      MORRIS

      ZACHARIAH

      Zachariah is dark-skinned and Morris is light-skinned.

      All the action takes place in a one-room shack in the “non-white location” of Korsten, Port Elizabeth. The walls are a patchwork of scraps of corrugated iron, packing-case wood, flattened cardboard boxes, and old hessian bags. One door, one window (no curtains), two beds, a table and two chairs. Also in evidence is a cupboard of sorts with an oil-stove, a kettle and a few pots. The shack is tidy and swept, but this only enhances the poverty of its furnishings. Over one of the beds is a shelf on which are a few books (including a Bible) and an alarm-clock.

      SCENE ONE

      Late afternoon.

      Lying on his bed, the one with the shelf, and staring up at the ceiling, is Morris. After a few seconds he stands up on the bed, looks at the alarm clock, and then lies down again in the same position. Time passes. The alarm rings and Morris jumps purposefully to his feet. He knows exactly what he is going to do. First, he winds and resets the clock, then lights the oil stove and puts on a kettle of water. Next, he places an enamel washbasin on the floor in front of the other bed and lays out a towel. He feels the kettle on the stove and then goes to the door and looks out. Nothing. He wanders aimlessly around the room for a few more seconds, pausing at the window for a long look at whatever lies beyond. Eventually he is back at the door again and, after a short wait, he sees someone coming. A second burst of activity. He places a packet of footsalts beside the basin and finally replaces the kettle.

      Zachariah comes in through the door. Their meeting is without words. Morris nods and Zachariah grunts on his way to the bed, where he sits down, drags off his shoes, and rolls up his trousers. While he does this, Morris sprinkles footsalts into the basin and then sits back on his haunches and waits. Zachariah dips his feet into the basin, sighs with satisfaction, but stops abruptly when he sees Morris smile. He frowns, pretends to think, and makes a great business of testing the water

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