Engaging Athol Fugard's Nongogo (1959) – Feminist reflections from a South African director

abstract

I was given the opportunity to direct Nongogo, a play written in 1959 by Athol Fugard. The play was staged at the Sneddon Theatre with University of KwaZulu-Natal students performing the roles in 2019. This reflection explores the feminist relevance of the play today in post-apartheid South Africa. I explore why a black female in her early 30s was inspired to realise the play which was written by Fugard to expose black township life. I reflect on the process of feminist direction and workshopping of the adaptation. We felt the need to integrate the ever-present social backdrop of violence against women into a contemporary women-centred interpretation of this Fugard play in which the main protagonist is an ex-sex worker. Slut-shaming by the male characters brings into focus the role of patriarchy and the need to retell the character’s scripted demise in terms which privilege her suppressed aspirations for self-realisation as a Black woman.

keywords:

• Nongogo
• feminist theatre
• sexism
• patriarchy
• Athol Fugard
• township life

Notes

1 “The discourses of gender in the South African public sphere are very conservative in the main: they speak of ‘women’s empowerment’ in ways that are not transformative, and as a consequence, they exist very comfortably alongside overwhelming evidence that South African women are not empowered: the rape and other gender based violence statistics, the rampant sexual harassment at work and public spaces, the siege on Black lesbians and raging homophobia, the very public and relentless circulation of misogynist imagery, metaphors and language” (Gqola, 2007:115).

2 Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/jan/17/sexism-stage-female-playwrights-royal-court-theatre, accessed 22 April 2020.

3 All the productions of Nongogo mentioned above are focussed on apartheid and township life. However, the productions have elicited diverse interpretations. For example Ngcobo’s production in 2018 drew a review which highlights land struggles in one (Nkateko Mabasa, ‘Athol Fugard’s Nongogo could help us understand the land debate’, 9 July, 2018, Maverick) and gives a gendered reflection of the play (Thami Kwezi, ‘Nongogo’ explores shebeen life and slut-shaming in 1950s’, 28 June 2018, Citizen) in the other.

4 ‘Booze, banter and brokenness: Fugard’s Nongogo a winner’, available at: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2013-10-14-booze-banter-and-brokenness-fugards-nongogo-a-winner/ , accessed 22 April 2020.

5 ‘Nongogo’ explores shebeen life and slut-shaming in 1950s’, available at: https://citizen.co.za/lifestyle/your-life-entertainment-your-life/art-theatre/1965625/nongogo-explores-shebeen-life-and-slut-shaming-in-1950s/ , accessed 22 April 2020.

6 ‘South Africa’s shocking gender-based violence statistics’, available at: https://albertonrecord.co.za/225326/south-africas-shocking-gender-based-violence-statistics/ , accessed 22 April 2020.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Philisiwe Twijnstra

PHILISIWE TWIJNSTRA is a writer, director and actor. She resides in Durban where she founded Durban Women Playwrights in 2017. She was also selected as one of the female directors for a Women’s Theatre Festival in Johannesburg (2016) to stage her first award winning play by Dutch writer Theo Fransz, Matty & Sis. She was part of the novel script project at National Arts Festival after which she wrote ‘Salty pillows’. The script took 2nd place at the Pansa Playwright Festival. Twijnstra was shortlisted for Short Sharp Stories (2017) for her short story ‘Little black sandals’. She received a fellowship in Germany (2018) and her play ‘The red suitcase’ was selected for staged readings in Canada by Zee Zee Theatre. Twijnstra was a recipient of a CASA playwright award residency (2018) to write her new play ‘Not enough buses in Spring’. In November 2019 Twijnstra directed Nongogo at University of KwaZulu-Natal. This year (2020) she was a finalist for Distell Playwright for her play ‘Itshali’. She holds a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from Rhodes University. Email: [email protected]