★★★★★ (Essential reading for students of theatre, social justice, and the human condition.)
Have you seen a production of this play? Did it break you as much as it broke me? Let me know in the comments. Boesman And Lena Script
Lena and Boesman are "Coloured" itinerant workers who have just been bulldozed out of their shantytown by the white government. We meet them at dawn on a desolate mudflat near the Swartkops River. They have no destination, only a past. They walk because if they stop walking, they might realize they have nothing. Lena and Boesman are "Coloured" itinerant workers who
Fugard doesn't just set the play on a mudflat; he traps the characters in it. The mud is the great equalizer. It sucks at their feet. It swallows their footprints. It is the physical manifestation of existential quicksand. You feel the cold, the damp, and the utter indifference of nature to human suffering. There is no picturesque sunset here—only the threat of high tide. They walk because if they stop walking, they