By Cynthia Citron
LOS ANGELES — Athol Fugard’s new play The Train Driver brings to mind Bette Davis’ legendary line, “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!” The “bump” in this case being the fatal collision between a speeding train and a black woman with a baby on her back.
As the play opens, it is some time after the accident, but the train driver remains haunted by the face of the woman he hit. He carries with him a newspaper clipping that reveals that the woman and baby remain nameless, their bodies unclaimed and, even though he was not charged with the killing, he is obsessively visiting grave sites in South Africa’s black townships to find them. His goal, he says, is to curse the woman for ruining his life.
The train driver is played by Morlan Higgins—in my view the best actor currently pacing and gracing the Los Angeles stage. He is joined in this production by another charismatic actor: the majestic Adolphus Ward, who plays the gravedigger in the cemetery where the woman and her baby may—or may not—have been buried.
In The Train Driver South Africa’s (and southern California’s) prime playwright, Athol Fugard, has fashioned, yet again, another faceted jewel that shines a light on the complicated relationships between the races in his native land. Higgins, alternately raging and agonizing, speaks with an impeccable Afrikaans accent, not a syllable out of place (thanks to dialog coach JB Blanc), while Ward responds with the deference and dignity of the traditional South African servant. They are equally mesmerizing.
In addition, the drama is played out on one of the most inspired settings that designer Jeff McLaughlin could devise. A pebbly, dusty graveyard spans much of the stage, while Simon the gravedigger’s shanty lies off to one side. Ken Booth’s lighting effects brilliantly illuminate the graveyard and alternately the candlelit interior of Simon’s shack. And Dana Rebecca Woods has outfitted the two men in appropriately grimy and sweaty work clothes.
The overall excellence of this production, however, must be credited to director Stephen Sachs, whose slow and deliberate pacing amplifies the anguish of the train driver and the confused cogitations of the gravedigger. And of course to playwright Athol Fugard, who has provided a gripping and moving vignette of South Africa and brought it for its United States premiere to the stage of the Fountain Theatre, long celebrated as one of the very best little theaters in Los Angeles. Fugard himself calls this play “The most important play I’ve ever written,” which is quite a dramatic statement from a man who has won every major award from a Tony to an Obie to an Oscar for his work. And even the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver for his “excellent contribution and achievements in the theater” from the government of South Africa.
The Train Driver will continue at the Fountain Theatre, which Fugard considers his “artistic home in the United States,” Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 through December 12th. The Fountain Theatre is located at 5060 Fountain Avenue (at Normandie). For tickets, call (323) 663-1525.
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Citron is Los Angeles bureau chief of San Diego Jewish World