February 2, 2011
Oxford University student company Nous Theatre is this week stretching its wings with a production of Athol Fugard’s provocative play Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act. Fugard’s 1972 play is set in apartheid-era South Africa and sees a black schoolteacher and white librarian grapple with the implications of their love affair, which is not just illicit, but illegal.
The play tackles some weighty moral and social themes - love, prejudice and politics take centre stage – and Fugard’s ill-fated lovers, Frieda Joubert (played by Joana Duyster-Borreda) and Errol Philander (played by Marcel Miller) are the only two actors on stage throughout the one-act production. Add to this the intimate setting of the the Burton Taylor and the sparse set, and the result is a intense viewing experience.
Duyster-Borreda and Miller are both to be congratulated for their mature handling of Fugard's complex characters. Miller aptly captures Errol’s graceful playfulness, his dreamy intellectualism and - as the danger increases - his vulnerability. Duyster-Borreda performs Frieda as a lost soul, but one who gathers strength as the performance unfolds. Her performance peaks during the character's speech in defense of her love, which at moments is truly heart-breaking.
The first part of the play, when the lovers debate their affair, is conducted entirely without light. While the effect of the voices in the darkness is dramatic, the audiences' blindness lasts a little too long and risks becomming tedious. However, on the whole, lighting designer Stephen Poole handles the play’s interplay between light and dark very well.
When incriminating evidence of the affair is gathered the audience are made to jump as strobe lights simulate the flash of a photographer’s camera, and the glimpses of the couple scrambling in the panic are shocking. Lighting is also used to shield the nudity of the actors, at least for parts of the play.
Indeed, for the first half of the performance, it seems as though much effort goes into using lighting, props and choreography to prevent views of full frontal nudity, only for the actors to expose everything the director had previously worked to hide. This shift from subtle to actual nakedness is perhaps designed to represent the exposure of the love affair, but unfortunately it has the effect of making nudity seem like a will-they-won’t-they ploy to maintain audience interest.
Overall, however, the director does an excellent job. The play’s script is as wordy as its title, and Director Milja Fenger uses the small and sparse space in creative ways that prevent the audience becoming bored during long monologues.
Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act is an emotionally gripping play and confronts a host of momentous social and psychological issues. Nous Theatre is to be commended for tackling Fugard’s challenging work and congratulated for a very promising production.
The play tackles some weighty moral and social themes - love, prejudice and politics take centre stage – and Fugard’s ill-fated lovers, Frieda Joubert (played by Joana Duyster-Borreda) and Errol Philander (played by Marcel Miller) are the only two actors on stage throughout the one-act production. Add to this the intimate setting of the the Burton Taylor and the sparse set, and the result is a intense viewing experience.
Duyster-Borreda and Miller are both to be congratulated for their mature handling of Fugard's complex characters. Miller aptly captures Errol’s graceful playfulness, his dreamy intellectualism and - as the danger increases - his vulnerability. Duyster-Borreda performs Frieda as a lost soul, but one who gathers strength as the performance unfolds. Her performance peaks during the character's speech in defense of her love, which at moments is truly heart-breaking.
The first part of the play, when the lovers debate their affair, is conducted entirely without light. While the effect of the voices in the darkness is dramatic, the audiences' blindness lasts a little too long and risks becomming tedious. However, on the whole, lighting designer Stephen Poole handles the play’s interplay between light and dark very well.
When incriminating evidence of the affair is gathered the audience are made to jump as strobe lights simulate the flash of a photographer’s camera, and the glimpses of the couple scrambling in the panic are shocking. Lighting is also used to shield the nudity of the actors, at least for parts of the play.
Indeed, for the first half of the performance, it seems as though much effort goes into using lighting, props and choreography to prevent views of full frontal nudity, only for the actors to expose everything the director had previously worked to hide. This shift from subtle to actual nakedness is perhaps designed to represent the exposure of the love affair, but unfortunately it has the effect of making nudity seem like a will-they-won’t-they ploy to maintain audience interest.
Overall, however, the director does an excellent job. The play’s script is as wordy as its title, and Director Milja Fenger uses the small and sparse space in creative ways that prevent the audience becoming bored during long monologues.
Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act is an emotionally gripping play and confronts a host of momentous social and psychological issues. Nous Theatre is to be commended for tackling Fugard’s challenging work and congratulated for a very promising production.