Athol Fugard Biography (1932-)

Full name, Harold Athol Lannigan Fugard; born June 11, 1932, in Middleburg, Cape Province, South Africa; son of Harold David (owner of a general store, jazz pianist) and Elizabeth Madalena (a tea room manager; maiden name, Potgeiter) Fugard; married Sheila Mering (a poet, novelist, and actress), September 1, 1955; children: Lisa Maria. Addresses: Agent: William Morris Agency,151 El Camino Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90212.; Home: Walmer, P.O. Box 5090, Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Nationality: South African
Gender: Male
Occupation: Playwright, actor, director
Birth Details: June 11, 1932; Middleburg, Cape Province, South Africa

Famous Works

CREDITS
Stage Appearances
Morris, Blood Knot, Sophiatown, South Africa, 1961, then HampsteadTheatre Club, Hampstead, England, 1966
Morris, Blood Knot, Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT, 1985, then John Golden Theatre, New York City, 1985-1986
Pastor Marius Byleveld, The Road to Mecca, Promenade Theatre, NewYork City, 1988, then John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC
The Author/Abraam Jonkers, Valley Song, Manhattan Theatre Club Stage I, New York City, 1996, then World Stage Festival, Toronto, 1996
The Author/the Tiger, The Captain's Tiger: A Memoir for Stage, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, 1998, then Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City, 1999
Stage Director
Blood Knot, Hampstead Theatre Club, Hampstead, England, 1966
The Trial of Brother Jero, Hampstead Theatre Club, 1966
Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act, Royal Court Theatre, London, 1974
Sizwe Bansi Is Dead, New York, 1975
The Island, New York, 1975
Dimetos, Edinburgh Festival, 1975, then Comedy Theatre, London, 1976
Hello and Goodbye, Riverside Theatre, New York, 1978
A Lesson from Aloes, Market Theatre, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1978, then Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT, 1979-1980, later Broadway production, 1980
"Master Harold" ... and the Boys, Lyceum Theatre, New York City, 1982
The Road to Mecca, Promenade Theatre, New York City, 1988, then John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, DC
My Children! My Africa!, Market Theatre, 1989, then New York Theatre Workshop, Perry Street Theatre, New York City, 1989-1990, later Maurier Ltd. World Stage Theatre Festival, Toronto Center, Los Angeles, 1991
Valley Song, Manhattan Theatre Club Stage I, New York City, 1996,then World Stage Festival, Toronto, 1996
The Captain's Tiger: A Memoir for Stage, McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, 1998, then Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City, 1999, published byTheatre Communications Group, 1999
Sorrows and Rejoicings, Second Stage Theater, New York City, 2002
Film Appearances
Boesman, Boseman and Lena, 1974
Eugene Marais, The Guest (also known as The Guest at Steenkampskraal and The Guest: An Episode in the Life of Eugene Marais), RM,1977
Professor Skridlov, Meetings with Remarkable Men, Libra, 1979
General Jan Christian Smuts, Gandhi, Columbia, 1982
Dr. Sundesval, The Killing Fields, Warner Bros., 1984
Paulus, Marigolds in August, Serpent/RM, 1985
Pastor Marius Byleveld, The Road to Mecca, 1991
(In archive footage) Himself, In Darkest Hollywood: Cinema and Apartheid, 1993
Film Work
Director, The Road to Mecca, 1991

Television Appearances
Specials
Himself, The Art of Influence, Bravo, 1998
WRITINGS
Plays
No-Good Friday, produced in Cape Town, South Africa, 1956, then Bantu Mews Social Center, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1958, published with Dimetos and Nongogo as Dimetos and Two Early Plays, Oxford University Press, 1977
Nongogo, first produced in Cape Town, 1957, then in Sheffield, England, 1974, later in New York City, 1978, published in Dimetos and Two Early Plays, Oxford University Press, 1977
The Cell, produced in Cape Town, 1957
Klaas and The Devil, produced in Cape Town, 1957
The Blood Knot, produced in Johannesburg, later London, 1961, thenoff-Broadway, 1964, published by Simondium, 1963, Odyssey, 1964
The Cure, produced in South Africa, 1962-1963
Hello and Goodbye, produced in Johannesburg, 1965, then Sheridan Square Playhouse, New York City, 1969, published by A. A. Balkema, 1966, Samuel French, 1971
The Occupation: A Script for Camera, published in Ten One-Act Plays, edited by Cosmos Pieterse, Heinemann, 1968
Boesman and Lena, produced in Grahamstown, South Africa, 1969, then Circle in the Square Theatre, New York City, 1970, published by Buren, 1969, revised and rewritten edition, Samuel French, 1971
People Are Living There, produced at Hofmeyr Theatre, Cape Town, 1969, then Forum Theatre, Lincoln Center, New York City, 1971, published by Oxford University Press, 1970, Samuel French, 1976
Friday's Bread on Monday, produced 1970
People Arriving There, produced at Forum, New York, 1971
The Coat, published with Third Degree, by Don MacLennan, A.A. Balkema, 1971
Orestes, produced in Cape Town, 1971, published in Theatre One:New South African Drama, edited by Stephen Gray, Donker, 1978
(With John Kani and Winston Ntshona) Sizwe Bansi Is Dead (one act), produced in Cape Town, 1972, then New York City, 1974, published in Statements (with The Island and Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act), Oxford University Press, 1974
(With Kani and Ntshona) The Island (one act), produced in South Africa, 1972, then Royal Court Theatre, London, 1973, later Edison Theatre, NewYork City, 1974, published in Statements
Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act (one act), produced in Cape Town, 1972, then Royal Court Theatre, London, 1974, published in Statements
Dimetos, produced in Edinburgh, 1975, then Comedy Theatre, London,1976, later in New York City, 1980, published in Dimetos and Two Early Plays
(With Ross Devenish) The Guest: An Episode in the Life of Eugene Marais, published by Donker, Johannesburg, 1977
A Lesson from Aloes, produced in Johannesburg, 1978, then Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT, 1979-1980, later in New York City, 1980, published by Oxford University Press, 1981
The Drummer, produced in Louisville, 1980
"Master Harold" ... and the Boys, produced in New Haven, CT, 1982,then Lyceum Theatre, New York City, 1982, published by Oxford University Press, 1983
The Road to Mecca, produced at Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven,1984, then Lyttelton Theatre, New York City, 1988, published by Faber and Faber, 1985
A Place with the Pigs: A Personal Parable, produced at Yale Repertory Theatre, published by Faber and Faber, 1988, published with Playland as Playland and A Place with the Pigs, Theatre Communications Group, 1993
My Children! My Africa!, produced by New York Theatre Workshop, Perry Street Theatre, New York City, 1989-1990
Playland, produced at Donmar Warehouse, London, 1993, published inPlayland and A Place with the Pigs, published by Faber and Faber, 1993
Valley Song, produced at Market Theatre, then McCarter Theatre, Princeton, NJ, both 1995
The Captain's Tiger: A Memoir for the Stage, produced at McCarterTheatre, 1998, then Manhattan Theatre Club Stage II, New York City, publishedby Theatre Communications Group, 1999
Sorrows and Rejoicings, produced at Second Stage Theater, New YorkCity, 2002
Screenplays
The Guest (also known as The Guest at Steenkamskraal and The Guest: An Episode in the Life of Eugene Marais), RM, 1977, publishedwith Marigolds in August as Marigolds in August and The Guest: TwoScreenplays, Theatre Communications Group, 1992
The Road to Mecca (based on Fugard's play of the same name), 1991
(With Ross Devenish) Marigolds in August, Serpent/RM, 1984, published by Donker, 1982, published in Marigolds in August and The Guest: Two Screenplays
Television Specials
Millie Miglia (also known as Theatre 625: Mille miglia), 1968
Master Harold and the Boys, 1985
Books
Three Port Elizabeth Plays: The Blood Knot, Hello and Goodbye, Boesmanand Lena, Viking, Oxford University Press, 1974
Tsotsi (novel), Donker (Johannesburg), 1980, Collings, 1980, Random House, 1980
Notebooks 1960-77, edited by Mary Benson, Donker, 1983, Faber, 1983, Knopf, 1984
Writer and Region: Athol Fugard (essay), Anson Phelps Stokes Institute, 1987
Cousins: A Memoir, Theatre Communications Group, 1997

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Contemporary Dramatists, 6th edition, St. James Press, 1999
Gray, Stephen, editor, Athol Fugard, McGraw Hill, 1982
Gray, compiler, File on Fugard, Methuen Drama, 1991
Hauptfleisch, Temple, Wilma Viljoen, and Celeste Van Greunen, compilers,Athol Fugard: A Source Guide, Donker, 1982
Read, John, compiler, Athol Fugard: A Bibliography, National English Literary Museum, 1991
Seidenspinner, Margarete, Exploring the Labyrinth: Athol Fugard's Approach to South African Drama, Blaue Eule, 1986
Vandenbroucke, Russel, Truths the Hand Can Touch: The Theatre of AtholFugard, Theatre Communications Group, 1985
Walder, Dennis, Athol Fugard, Macmillan, 1984

Periodicals

America, March 21, 1992, pp. 250-251
Interview, August, 1990, p. 64
Modern Drama, March, 1990, pp. 82-92
Nation, January 29, 1996, p. 35
Theater, fall/winter, 1984, pp. 40-42
World Literature Today, winter, 1996, pp. 83-88

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