A Lesson from Aloes

by Athol Fugard

Two former political activists confront each other and the events which led to their sudden falling-out years ago.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Africa, Theatre, Literature, South Africa, 20th Century

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Athol Fugard was a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright. Acclaimed in 1985 as "the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world" by Time, he published more than thirty plays. He was best known for his political and penetrating plays opposing the system of apartheid, some of which have been adapted to film. His novel Tsotsi was adapted as a film of the same name, which won an Academy Award in 2005. It was directed by Gavin Hood.
Fugard also served as an adjunct professor of playwriting, acting and directing in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of California, San Diego.
Fugard received many awards, honours, and honorary degrees, including the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver from the government of South Africa in 2005 "for his excellent contribution and achievements in the theatre". He was also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Fugard was honoured in Cape Town with the opening in 2010 of the Fugard Theatre in District Six. He received a Tony Award for lifetime achievement in 2011.

Reviews

[Brian McCann · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glad I finally read it. Seemed belabored.

[Eliana Lazzara · Rating 4 out of 5]

No one cares about your aloes, Piet.

[Karoon]

Gladys
گلادیس بزویدنهوت

[James F · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading several plays of Wole Soyinka, I continued my reading in African Literature with the second best known African playwright, Athol Fugard of South Africa. Actually, Fugard may be the better known in the U.S., or at least the more often performed; he's certainly more accessible in that his realist style requires less background than the ritualist style of Soyinka. In fact, as far as I can remember he is the only African playwright I have actually seen a play by (Master Harold and the Boys, in Portland about twenty years ago.)

I read three of his early one act plays from the sixties last October; I am starting again with his more recent plays. A Lesson From Aloes is a two act play first performed in 1979. The earlier plays I read were very political, but indirectly; they showed apartheid through its effects on the ordinary life of nonpolitical people. This play was more directly political, dealing with two activists, one Afrikaner and one Coloured, and the English-South African wife of the Afrikaner. (All of his plays I have read seem limited to two or at most three characters, perhaps because of the conditions under which they had to be performed under the apartheid regime.)

The play is very powerful. The aloes of the title are a symbol of survival; as the publisher's description says, the three ways of survival in South Africa were isolation, madness, or exile. I can't say more than this without spoilers (and I would suggest not reading the introduction first, because it reveals much of the plot, in describing the actual situation which was dramatized in the play. It was based on a true story, with only the last names changed.)

[Rhiannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new favorite Athol Fugard. Gorgeous.

[Heda Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was introduced to it by videos on the Julliard Open Studio. It is a wonderful play. Although the days of apartheid is history, the play still has its realistic power.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

The trauma and guilt of those who survived Apartheid.

[Bobby Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of those starts-placid-then-the-secrets-start-unraveling stories. Well done.

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

A play about the perils of apartheid, this play is a little bit of a time capsule. Fugard makes the point that this system of repression damage everyone involved, no matter class or race. With only 3 characters, the play tightly revolves around Piet, a failed Afrikaner farmer, his wife, and a friend just released from prison and leaving the country. All deal with feelings of loss and mistrust.

Fugard’s points have been so well made by so many people over time that they seem obvious. Maybe this is a testament to the play’s “rightness.”

See my other reviews here!

[Timothy Scholl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quintessential Fugard. By looking long into his non-heroes, Fugard reveals a world and political reality that you thought you were expecting, but you weren't.