Fugard - The Shadow of the Hummingbird

BOOKS BY ATHOL FUGARD AVAILABLE FROM TCG

Blood Knot and Other Plays

ALSO INCLUDES:

Boesman and Lena

Hello and Goodbye

The Captains Tiger

Cousins: A Memoir

Exits and Entrances

A Lesson from Aloes

Marigolds in August and The Guest

My Children! My Africa!

Notebooks: 19601977

Playland and A Place with the Pigs

The Road to Mecca

The Shadow of the Hummingbird

Sorrows and Rejoicings

Statements

INCLUDES:

The Island

Sizwe Bansi Is Dead

Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act

The Train Driver and Other Plays

ALSO INCLUDES:

Coming Home

Have You Seen Us?

Valley Song

The Shadow of the Hummingbird is copyright 2014 by Athol Fugard

Prelude is copyright 2014 by Paula Fourie and Athol Fugard

The Shadow of the Hummingbird is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc., 520 8th Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10018-4156

All Rights Reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this material, being fully protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and all other countries of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions, is subject to a royalty. All rights, including but not limited to, professional, amateur, recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are expressly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of this book by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from the authors representative: William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, 1325 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019, (212) 586-5100.

The publication of The Shadow of the Hummingbird, by Athol Fugard, through TCGs Book Program, is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Fugard, Athol.

The shadow of the hummingbird / by Athol Fugard ; with an introductory prelude by Paula Fourie, with extracts from Athol Fugards unpublished notebooks.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-55936-795-0 (ebook)

I. Title.

PR9369.3.F8S47 2014

822dc23 2014006774

Book design and composition by Lisa Govan

Cover design by Lisa Govan

Front and back cover photos Ann Johansson/Corbis

First Edition, March 2014

For Gavyn

Contents

By Paula Fourie

With Extracts from Athol Fugards

Unpublished Notebooks

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank The Lilly Library at Indiana University in Bloomington for facilitating access to Mr. Fugards unpublished notebooks.

PRODUCTION HISTORY

The Shadow of the Hummingbird received its world premiere at the Long Wharf Theatre (Gordon Edelstein, Artistic Director; Joshua Borenstein, Managing Director) in New Haven, Connecticut, on April 2, 2014. The production was directed by Gordon Edelstein. The scenic design was by Eugene Lee, the costume design was by Susan Hilferty, the lighting design was by Michael Chybowski, the sound design was by John Gromada and the production stage manager was Jason Kaiser. The cast was:

CHARACTERS

OUPA: an ailing old man in his eighties

BOBA: his grandson, ten years old

He lives a day.

What is he? What is he not?

Man is a dream of a shadow.

PINDAR, PYTHIAN 8, 956

Prelude

A small room with an old armchair facing one of the walls. There is a large square of sunlight on the wall from the rooms one window. There is also a door and a couple of over-loaded bookcases against the other walls. On one side of the room is a crowded desk with odds and ends, piles of books and a glass of water. Beside the armchair is a small side table with a few books. A reading lamp of sorts, fountain pens and pencils. It is the room of someone who reads. Hidden somewhere in the clutter, a pair of large wire spectacles.

An old man, Oupa, wearing a dressing gown over striped flannel pajamas, comes shuffling onto the stage, muttering under his breath:

OUPA: Spectacles... spectacles... where are my bloody eyes?

(Surveying the cluttered room.)

What a spectacle!

(Shaking his head ruefully, he moves around the room, searching until he finds his spectacles.)

Ah!

(He puts them on, opening his eyes wide.)

Spectacular spectacles! (Takes them off and polishes them) A contraption devised to grant, once more, the gift of sight to the decrepit, those of us whose faculties have been eroded by time, nerve endings ground down to little stumps. We who move slowly now. But do they help you see? The old and infirm havent lost their sight, they have merely turned their gaze inward.

(Meditatively:)

As I once heard a wise sage say, Young man, the final landscape is within.

(Turning to face the wall with the square of sunlight, he stares at it for a few moments. Then he abruptly heads for a bookcase, muttering urgently:)

Shadow, shadow... shadow!

(There is a barely contained excitement in his body now, an energy in his movements, even though they are stiff and slow. He has a purpose: he is searching for something. He scans the books on one of the shelves, mumbling under his breath, then pulls one out. It is one of his own notebooks, all of which look different [some spiral bound, some hardcover], but are all filled with handwritten notes. He pages quickly through the notebook before slowing down and finally stopping. Adjusting his spectacles, he brings the notebook closer to his face, reading aloud, tasting the words on his tongue, relishing them:)