Poignant play needs shorter run time
Red Herring Productions finds the wistful hope and poignant tragedy in “My Children! My Africa!”
Athol Fugard’s resonant but schematic 1989 drama, which opened Friday at the Franklinton Playhouse, explores enduring themes about race, education, conflicting idealism and clashing generations.
Set in South Africa during the apartheid era of systemized racism and segregated schools, the two-act centers on a dedicated black teacher and two 18-year-old students.
Victor D’Wayne Little plays Mr. M, a childless teacher nearing retirement with immense dignity. At
the preview on Thursday, his carefully measured words evoked thoughtfulness, oldfashioned courtliness and undercurrents of loneliness.
As Thami, Mr. M’s brilliant protege among his poor township students, Sileyemon Ndongo projects passion and intelligence that flares into righteous anger.
As Isabel, a smart white student from a nearby school, Madison Garvin Lee charts a convincing arc from awakening to social consciousness.
Initially joined by Mr. M for a class debate about women’s rights, Thami and Isabel forge a friendship. Meanwhile, their idealistic teacher hopes to train them as a team for a national contest that could win Thami a scholarship and be an example of interracial respect.
The minimalist arena-style production — with just three benches and a desk at the four corners of the intimate stage — evokes a boxing match in which the blows are traded with words rather than fists.
Director Michael Garrett Herring approaches the production with the sensitivity and attention to nuanced acting that marked Red Herring Productions’ admirable April staging of Fugard’s “The Road to Mecca.”
Unfortunately, at nearly three hours, “My Children! My Africa!” seems less emotionally rich, overly schematic and perhaps 15 minutes too long. (An extended quiz sequence seems superfluous.)
The play, suggested for mature audiences because of serious themes and (offstage) violence, is more polemical and talky than Fugard’s greatest works.
Still, the actors make most words glow with meaning and fervent conviction.