Playland by Athol Fugard
New Perspectives
Reviewed by Lee Farley at Malvern Cube Friday 6th March
Malvern Cube is an exciting, thriving venue for arts events. Pick up a “What’s On” guide and you’ll find upcoming gigs from Maddy Prior & The Wonder Stuff plus local artists, new theatre writing and film showings. There’s an environment being created which is positive, varied and driven by the community. “Playland” was performed in the large theatre venue at the Cube. Tomorrow there will be young skaters using the same space. On Sunday it’s dog club. A diverse, flourishing hub for the whole community.
Athol Fugard’s play is a metaphor for post-Apartheid South Africa, struggling for a new identity and forgiveness for past atrocities. Fugard uses two characters, a white man and a black man, to represent and articulate his themes and arguments. Unfortunately, the allegory is obvious and laboured and the play suffers from a lack of dramatic tension as a result.
New Year’s Eve 1989 is a crucial point in South Africa’s history, shortly after the ANC’s legitimacy was reinstated and a few months before Nelson Mandela’s release from prison.
Fugard carefully sets his play at this moment in history and uses a travelling amusement arcade as the backdrop for a lengthy, drawn-out conversation between Gideon (white, angry, ex-serviceman) and Martinus (black, nightwatchman, guarded) – exploring themes which chime with the circumstances. Conflict, religion, redemption and reconciliation. Both men have dark secrets which, as you’d expect, are revealed as the night draws on.
The problem here is that the relationship between the two characters is never strong or believable enough to be engaging. A random encounter which results in an epic showdown of truth, rage and finally catharsis is familiar theatrical territory (I was reminded of Albee’s Zoo Story) but the crucial, most important factor in creating successful theatre in this context must be the relationship between the only two characters we meet. New Perspectives’ Playland allows the relationship to remain unexplored and unconvincing. The play’s second half mostly involves lengthy speeches from the two characters. For the majority of the time, no eye contact was made and no reaction given – both Gideon & Martinus were speaking into a void. I found this hard to watch and impossible to engage with. The men remained unconnected, mere ciphers for Fugard’s discourse.
I look forward to more productions and arts events at Malvern Cube but hope for less heavy-handed polemic and more emotional engagement next time. Playland contains interesting ideas and important historical parallels but fails to engage on a dramatic level.
