Emotional and mental marathon
NOT for the first time, Athol Fugard has delivered an inspiring play of universal appeal with a strong vein of philosophy and couched in poetic language.
However, instead of following the precept he offered to director Greg Karvellas (“Keep it simple”), this dramatisation of a woman’s quest for self-expression through her art has so many side issues that the two-and-a-half hour performance becomes an emotional and mental marathon.
What is remarkable is that our attention is sustained – a tribute to the calibre of direction and acting. The latter, undertaken by the threesome of Prinsloo, Weyers and Child, is memorable.
Prinsloo is lustrous as the artist Helen Martin who turned her humble Nieu-Bethesda house into an artwork of haunting and unconventional beauty.
Weyers is wholly convincing in the difficult role of the Reverend Marius – at once humorous, manipulative and vulnerable; and Child’s portrayal of the bitter, needy and complicated Elsa confirms her steady ascent as a young actress maturing into a great one.
Karvellas’s adroit direction keeps the characters from falling into the pitfall of static declamation attendant on several lengthy monologues.
Each is in a sort of perpetual motion as they perform mundane tasks in the small, cluttered lounge of the Owl House: making tea, clearing a table, washing, lighting candles, or discoursing on the merits of fresh vegetables…
The space in which their passions are played out has so much character that it becomes a persona in its own right, and a factor in the key decision Martin has to make.
Here the enchanting set design of Saul Radomsky is essential to the credibility of
The Road to Mecca, with Mannie Manim’s lighting equally potent in conveying the metaphor of darkness yielding to light (a pivotal theme in this work).
The arduous journey to her personal Mecca on which Martin embarked after her widowhood is almost done as the action begins.
The “miracle of light and colour” that has alienated her from her neighbours while restoring her vitality and selfworth, has been achieved.
The future is gravid with anxiety as options present themselves; a sense of urgency pervades the drama, emphasised by the shortness of Elsa’s whirlwind visit and the insistence of Marius that one choice is of limited duration.
Ultimately this unkempt but attractive woman makes the only decision she can if staying true to herself, and the radiance emanating from it sends the audience home in high good humour despite being “bethumped with words”.