[NEohioPAL]Berko review: SORROWS AND REJOICINGS @ Ensemble

[Roy Berko]

ENSEMBLE GETS BACK ON TRACK WITH ‘Sorrows and
Rejoicings’

Roy Berko

(Member, American Theatre Critics Association)

--THE TIMES NEWSPAPERS--

Lorain County Times--Westlaker Times--Lakewood News
Times--Olmsted-Fairview Times	

Athol Fugard, who wrote ‘SORROWS AND REJOICINGS ’ in
2001, is a white South African.  The play is now on
stage at Ensemble Theatre.  

Fugard, who while working as a court clerk,  became
aware of how Colored Africans suffered under the laws
of apartheid.  He decided to express his rage at the
system in the form of playwriting.  Thus an important
voice of the “new” South Africa began to speak. 

The political topics and views expressed in his plays
quickly bought him into conflict with the government. 
 In order to avoid prosecution, he produced his plays
abroad.   This did not satisfy the leaders of South
Africa as the message of the subservience of the
majority of the population started to receive
international attention.  As a result, they withdrew
his passport. 

When his plays were presented in South Africa, the
mainly black audiences applauded, cried and
interjected their own experiences into the
productions. 

With such plays as ‘BLOOD KNOT,’ ‘SIZWE BANZI IS
DEAD,’ ‘ BOESMAN AND LENA,’ ‘MASTER HAROLD...AND THE
BOYS,’ (a semi-autobiographical work), and ‘MY
CHILDREN! MY AFRICA!,’ Fugard became an international
name in theatre.

‘SORROWS AND REJOICINGS’ centers on Dawid, a man who
is loved by two women, Marta (his mistress and the
father of his daughter, Rebecca), and Allison, his
wife.   

Dawid clearly echoes the author's own sense of being
"relentlessly gnawed by time."  Like Fugard, he is a
white writer deeply committed to black freedom, thus
leading some to believe that he is, in fact, Fugard’s
alter-ego.

The play takes place the day of Dawid’s funeral,
shortly after he has returned to his South African
home after a long period of self-exile in England. 
Using flashbacks, we experience the burgeoning
societally unaccepted relationship between Dawid and
the family’s black housekeeper, Marta; his marriage
and life with white Allison; and his lack of a
relationship with his abandoned daughter, Rebecca.  
 
In a unique writing device, each of the women's
remembrances of their relationship with Dawid are
mostly monologues.

Fugard is noted for his obvious metaphors. For
example, Rebecca stands upstage throughout the first
two-thirds of the play, observing, not participating. 
She is separate, yet part of her mother’s and father’s
lives.   Allison and Rebecca frequently stand at
opposite ends of the room, arms folded to underscore
the “don't touch” gulf between white and black South
Africans.  The center of attention is a table made of
a fine old native wood symbolizing, much like old and
new South Africa, a long and troubled history.

The Ensemble cast is excellent.  Elizabeth Townsend
(Allison) develops a character which is properly
British, while having a keen sense of South African
history and compassion.   Renee Matthews-Jackson
develops a clear and compelling character as Marta. 
Sonia Bishop as Rebecca, the 18-year old daughter, is
totally mesmerizing in her two very long soliloquies. 
She totally  captures the stage while she rants and
cries of her personal hurts, which also exemplify the
hurts of her country.  Robert Hawkes makes Dawid live.

Ron Newell’s set is serviceable, but the table, which
is center stage in the play’s development needed to be
more magnificent, to fit the constant attention which
is called to it.  Corby Grubb has selected African
music which perfectly captures the mood of the script.


CAPSULE JUDGEMENT: Ensemble, which generally performed
to high standards last year, started this season with
several weak shows.  But they have found their way
back with a very high quality production of Athol
Fugard’s ‘SORROWS AND REJOICINGS.’   Licia Colombi’s
directing is right on target.  The play is well-paced
and the cast all have a total grasp of their
characters.

‘SORROWS AND REJOICINGS’ continues at Ensemble
Theatre, located in the Brooks Theatre in the
Cleveland Play House complex through  February 26. 
For ticket information call 216-321-2930.


Roy Berko's web page can be found at www.royberko.info.  His theatre and dance reviews appear on NeOHIOpal, an on-line source.   To subscribe to this free service via the World Wide Web, visit http://lists.fredsternfeld.com/mailman/listinfo/neohiopal.

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