On a recent visit to Cape Town Fugard attended a performance of "Statements" at the invitation of the Theatre Arts Admin Collective that staged a short, non-commercial preview run. He was so deeply moved by the performance of his work that he saw it twice and appealed for the play to be given a professional run in Cape Town. The Fugard Theatre's founding producer Eric Abraham offered to underwrite the production and make the Fugard Studio available.
Set in apartheid era, where relationships across the colour bar were a criminal offence, two lovers - a black man and white woman - meet secretly in the library where the woman works to make love and share their hopes and fears. An observant neighbour reports them to the police who secretly photographs them from the informant's backyard and eventually breaks in and arrests the couple under the then inhuman and universally pilloried Immorality Act. The play is a compelling and deeply moving love story in which the physically and emotionally naked lovers expose not only their bodies but also their deepest longings for personal and emotional freedom.
The recent debate around the DA Youth Organization's choice of campaign poster and the debate around the "Statements" production poster has added depth to this deeply relevant subject matter - 40 years after the play was first presented in a divided South Africa. "It is always wonderful to be in a position to extend a production due to popular demand, particularly when the production is an excellent local one and carries such importance for our South African society," says Daniel Galloway, the Fugard Theatre's general manager.
