A Lesson From Aloes

Fugard, Athol

ISBN 10: 0394518985 / ISBN 13: 9780394518985

Published by Random House, 1981

About this Item

New York. 1981. May 1981. Random House. 1st Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0394518985. 79 pages. hardcover. Jacket design: Dick Adelson. keywords: Africa South Africa Drama Literature World Literature. DESCRIPTION - Internationally acclaimed playwright Athol Fugard, South Africa's greatest literary artist' (Clive Barnes) - author of, among other plays, Boesman and Lena, Sizwe Bansi Is Dead and The Island - gives us his wisest and most mature work in the theater' (Mel Gussow, New York Times): a searing drama about three victims of psychological and social repression in apartheid society, who insist on surviving. The setting is Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is 1963. Piet Bezuidenhout, a thoughtful and decent Afrikaner disillusioned with liberal politics, has failed as a farmer, and has turned to collecting and classifying aloes, tough, cactuslike, liliaceous plants that can survive in hostile environments. His English/ South African wife Gladys has undergone electric-shock treatment for a nervous breakdown resulting from the confiscation of her diaries by the secret police, but still suffers from a desperate apprehension.' Their friend Steve Daniels, a Coloured (a person of mixed racial blood) ex-political activist just released from prison, is preparing to leave with his family for England on a one-way exit permit. The final meeting of these three characters, each of whom is engaged in a struggle with fear or guilt, explodes with tense and tragic revelations of suspicion and desolation. A Lesson from Aloes was first performed at the Yale Repertory Theater in the spring of 1980, starring James Earl Jones, Maria Tucci and Harris Yulin. The original production came to Broadway in November of the same year, and was proclaimed one of the major dramatic events of the season. inventory #4009.

Seller Inventory # z4009

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Lesson From Aloes
• Publisher: Random House
• Publication Date: 1981
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0394518985
• ISBN 13: 9780394518985
• Binding: hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Very Good in Dustjacket
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

Drama, Plays, Theatre

About the Author

The New Yorker has said of Athol Fugard, "A rare playwright, who could be a primary candidate for either the Nobel Prize in Literature or the Nobel Peace Prize." His major works for the stage include: Blood Knot; "Master Harold"...and the boys; My Children! My Africa!; A Lesson from Aloes; The Road to Mecca; Valley Song; and The Captain's Tiger.