10/03/2025
A giant has fallen. Playwright Athol Fugard has passed away today. Fugard was perhaps one of the most definitive voices in South African theatre. Globally recognised, his incisive insights and deep character studies formed part of a body of theatre that pushed back against apartheid and reclaimed the stories of everyday South Africans.
His play Boesman and Lena was staged at the first ever National Arts Festival in 1974 and he would go on to premier many of his works at the NAF. Since then, many productions of his plays have been staged by new generations of artists.
Fugard spent most of his life in the Eastern Cape, his stories inspired by and infused with the atmosphere and characters of the region. Fugard, and his wife Sheila, were active in the Serpent Players, a group of industrial and service workers from New Brighton in Gqeberha (then Port Elizabeth), led by Norman Ntshinga and including Nomhle Nkonyeni, John Kani, Winston Ntshona, Welcome Duru, Fats Bookholane, Mike Ngxolo and Mabel Magada.
The group was constantly harassed by security police, but their work together blazed new trails for South African theatre.
In the words of his biographer Rory Riordan, Fugard once said, “My life’s work is to witness as truthfully as I can the nameless and destitute of this one little corner of the world”
He lived a simple life, deeply committed to his craft. We honour his legacy. May he rest in peace.
