Fugard’srequiem
‘As I have done many times in the past, I have also chosen to direct this premier performance of what might well be my last play.’ With these words, Athol Fugard greets his audience via his director’s note for the opening night of his first Afrikaans play, Die Laaste Karretjiegraf(The Last Buggy Grave).
Inspired by anthropologist Riana Steyn’s 2009 master’s dissertation, the show is a requiem and a tribute to the sheep-shearing Karretjie people of the Great Karoo. These South African gypsies are related to the Khoisan, meaning that, uniquely, their DNA can be traced back for more than 100 000 years.
Sadly, due to various anthropological and socio-economic reasons, their numbers have drastically decreased over recent decades. As a result, Steyn observed in her thesis that these former sub-Saharan bedouins have now been forced into a more sedentary lifestyle.
A freshly covered grave on stage greets the viewer when entering the Fugard Studio Theatre.
A young girl crouches in disbelief next to it; her only companions the white stones and thorn bushes that litter the Karoo landscape surrounding her.
The occasional sound of a speeding vehicle suggests the burial site must be close to a highway.
The mourning girl’s name is Rokkies (Kim Pietersen) and she is saying goodbye to her ouma, Mieta Ackerman. Rokkies is soon joined by her three brothers: Pienkies, Toek-Toek, and Outjie. While they seal the burial site with rocks (to prevent animals scavenging), we learn that Mieta was not only the patriarch of the family, but also the very last true Karretjie person.
When they are done, the children pack their pitiful possessions on to a donkey cart, and take to the open road. This is their home.
The only other surviving family member is Mieta’s son (and the children’s father), Koot (Ivan Abrahams). A full-time alcoholic and sometime sheep shearer, Koot is serving time in prison for the coldblooded murders of his two previous wives.
Even though the incidents occurred years apart, they both took place as a result of one of Koot’s drunken rages.
After his release, Koot takes up residence in Tamatiestraat (a nearby informal settlement) with his soon-to-be third wife. While visiting his mother’s grave one day, he meets Sarah (Erica Wessels), an anthropologist. She conducted research for a master’s dissertation on the Karretjie people in the region several years earlier. During her time spent there, she also developed a close, cross-cultural bond with Mieta and her family.
This chance meeting next to the dusty Karoo gravesite serves as the catalyst for an intense confrontation between Koot and Sarah.
Through a no-holds-barred script, these actors bravely examine the various factors that contributed to the fading away of an entire cultural group.
The life of the Karretjie people was a self-reliant one, without the safety nets provided by a community-driven society. When something ran out, they simply learnt to live without it. But when we see Koot’s children, as a last resort, setting fire to parts of their donkey cart during a cold night, we know the writing is on the wall.
The play also identifies several social cancers that took root in the Karretjie society, and slowly decayed it from within. These include alcohol abuse, lack of education, and overall parental neglect.
This is where Koot becomes a crucial character to the success of Die Laaste Karretjiegraf. As the play’s title suggests, his mother represents the “last” of the Karretjie people.
Koot (bravely portrayed by Abrahams) therefore represents the generation where things started to go wrong. Abrahams’s acting challenge is to realistically embody the kind of person that, with conviction, can be blamed for a decline in social values.
During a flashback scene, Rokkies shows Sarah how to make a stokpop(stick puppet). When Sarah asks Rokkies what her doll will grow up to be one day, the little girl proudly answers that she will be a kombuis meid(kitchen maid).
What kind of a father would raise children with such heartbreaking ambitions?
During the same flashback scene, we also see the children playfully re-enact the night of their mother’s murder.
Sarah is left horrified after seeing Rokkies’s stokpop being hacked to pieces with a kierie(cane) by Outjie in an effort to mimic the drunk actions of his father.
There are several other (even heavier) moments during the show, and Fugard spares his audience no details. But, at the same time, there are no cheap shots, and nothing on stage is there for dramatic effect alone. It it is included, it actually happened.
Even though there are also some lighter moments in Die Laaste Karretjiegraf, this is an emotionally taxing piece of theatre overall.
Being confronted with one’s mortality is unnerving enough as it is. Also being reminded of the fact that life isn’t fair, and that justice is rarely served, can quickly lead to feelings of dispair.
But Fugard also offers hope and empathy.
Instead of taking a bow at the end of the show, the director has his cast spontaneously dance and sing while banging loudly on tin plates and cups. By doing this, he acknowledges the existence of the Karretjie people, shows solidarity with their demise, and vows never to forget them.
l Die Laaste Karretjiegraf runs at The Fugard Studio Theatre in Cape Town until February 23. The show is performed in Afrikaans, and has English subtitles. See website: www.thefugard.com.