Boesman and Lena

B-

In a review of the 2000 film based on Athol Fugard’s (Blood Knot, “Master Harold” …and the Boys) searing drama, the Variety critic expressed the thought that the work managed the difficult feat of recalling both “Waiting for Godot” and “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” There is at least a grain of truth in this observation. In this Signature Theatre production, the set’s barren landscape with one dead tree certainly could be shared by Beckett’s play and both works are about a pair condemned to endless wandering. Like Albee’s couple, Fugard’s is a codependent pair prone to provoking each other. Boesman and Lena are coloureds, i.e. of mixed race, whose life in apartheid South Africa is a living hell. The policy of forced removals has turned them into domestic refugees with no prospects for a settled life. Watching a day in their life is almost unbearably painful. We meet them on a mud flat after their most recent shantytown has been demolished by the government. Exhausted after a long day of walking with most of their worldly goods on her head, Lena voices her unhappiness and begs for some wine, to Boesman’s deaf ear. We learn that he has mostly come to ignore her when he is not taking out his frustration with life by beating on her. They have been together for several years and had one child who lived for six months and several stillbirths. As they set up their lean-to, Lena sees someone approaching and, against Boesman’s wishes, invites him to join them. Their guest turns out to be a frail, elderly Xhosa tribesman, whose language they do not understand. Nevertheless, out of her fierce desire for companionship, Lena welcomes him as someone to listen to her. Boesman is not happy about it. Will Lena’s accumulation of grievances against Boesman lead her to finally leave him? The main strength of this production is the acting. Zainab Jah (Venus, Eclipsed) is superb as Lena and Thomas Silcott (Coming Home) is haunting as the old man. Sahr Ngaujah (Fela!, Mlima’s Tale) is a bit problematic; his Boesman is so relentlessly unpleasant that there is no inkling of why Lena would ever have been drawn to him. I don’t know whether the problem is in the script or in the performance. Susan Hilferty’s (Wicked, Into the Woods) costumes and bleak set are evocative. I have qualms about a few decisions by director Yaël Farber (London: Salomé, The Crucible). Having the pair wander through the audience before the play actually begins was not particularly effective and merely slowed things down. The decision to eliminate the intermission may have been determined more by fear of audience attrition than by artistic considerations. Two hours without a break was a challenge for my powers of concentration. It would have been helpful to have a few program notes about the prevailing racial stratification under apartheid as well as a short glossary of frequently used Afrikaans words. In today’s era of abused refugees, the play is all too timely. It is also one of the most depressing plays I have ever seen. Running time: two hours; no intermission.