S. Africa’s Fugard to Bring ‘Playland’ to the Playhouse

Celebrated South African playwright Athol Fugard, often called the conscience of white South Africa, will direct the American premiere of his newest play at the La Jolla Playhouse as part of the company’s 1992 season.

Speaking on the phone during a rehearsal break at the Manhattan Theatre Club, where he is directing his play “Boesman and Lena,” Fugard said he has progressed far enough in his first draft of “Playland” to offer its American premiere to Des McAnuff, artistic director of the Playhouse.

“Des McAnuff said, very wonderfully, ‘You have the same slot you had as last time. I’ve got a commitment to present this work in September-October next year.’ ”

The world premiere will be at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, where Fugard usually premieres his plays. Giving the American premiere to the Playhouse, where it will be the third Fugard play that Fugard has directed in three years, is a sign that the playwright-director-actor considers the Playhouse his new American home.

“I’ve had two experiences there, and God knows I can’t think of a place with a richer, more supportive feeling and compassion for the business of theater. I’ve been more than happy at the Playhouse where they are just so incredibly supportive and committed to the sort of theater that I’m interested in. I feel so welcome, and I’m very, very grateful for their presence in my life.”

Some writers are completely different in life than they seem through their work. Not Fugard. A deeply compassionate writer who always digs down to the wounded heart of his people, his conversation is filled with appreciation for the theater and his artistic collaborators. Never mind that he is pegged as someone who might win a Nobel Prize someday. He is grateful for the kindness of others who welcome his work. He never alludes to the fact that others might be thrilled to be working with him.

Although he was not ready to divulge the plot of “Playland,” he did reveal that it is a two-character play, set in contemporary South Africa, with one white character and one black.

“The play is about the politics of the relationship as well as that of the society,” he said.

The black character will be played by his old friend, Zakes Mokae, with whom he has worked for 30 years. He has not yet cast the part of the white man.

Longtime friend Susan Hilferty, who also has a long association with the Playhouse, will design the sets.

The subject, he said, is “as relevant to the South African reality at this point in time as ‘My Children! My Africa!’ was. And I can only hope that it will be accepted the way that ‘My Children! My Africa!’ was and that it will resonate for people outside the South African experience as well.”

Because Fugard only writes in his beloved South Africa, he does not plan to resume work on the play until “Boesman and Lena” opens Jan. 22 and he can fly back to New Bethesda, a remote little village where he maintains one of two homes.

There, he plans to sit with blank paper, a bottle of ink and his favorite fountain pen in his quiet room and resume the “scary” task of creating--a process that still unnerves him, even after turning out a play every other year for 34 years.

“I’m traumatized, always traumatized whenever I do a new work. My writing is the most truthful aspect of my life. It’s me in the way nothing else about me is me. More than my face.”

Fugard said this play has “an added significance” for him.

“It’s my 60th birthday present to myself.”

Fugard’s birthday is June 11, 1932.

Barney Simon, one of the founders of the Market Theatre, where Fugard is premiering his work, is one of the three authors of “Woza Albert,” which will be given its San Diego premiere by the Ensemble Arts Theatre in April.

Simon’s co-authors are Mbongeni Ngema and Percy Mtwa.

The play poses the question of what would happen if Christ came back to earth as a black man.

Ensemble Arts’ artistic director Glynn Bedington, formally known as Ginny-Lynn Safford, is attracted to works that pose questions. Her company’s last play, “I Can’t Get Started,” posed the question of why Dashiell Hammett stopped writing in the last thirty years of his life.

The company’s next play, which will be the American premiere of “The Touch,” by Peter Lloyd, asks whether a faith healer has changed the lives of three women. That show is scheduled to open Feb. 7.

But the biggest question facing Ensemble Arts right now is where these plays are going to open. The small Gaslamp Quarter Theatre Company space where it has done its last few shows is being converted into a cabaret.

For years, the Soviet Union subsidized theaters with full-time acting staffs of 100 all over the country. Now that the U.S.S.R. is no more, theater artists there are worried about their future.

Thomas Hall, managing director of the Old Globe, just returned last week from an international theater conference in Siberia, where theater artists sought advice from Hall and others on how to function in a free market.

“The big concern was what the government position was going to be,” Hall said. “I’m sure there will be attrition. But the large companies will survive.”

Hall didn’t see Leningrad’s Maly Theatre on this trip. The esteemed Maly, which did a smashing American premiere of “Brothers and Sisters” at the Old Globe in 1989, was touring in Europe.

The Maly won’t be returning to San Diego anytime soon, Hall said. Presenting them is an expensive proposition, and, right now, the Russians aren’t the only ones worried about their economic future.

PROGRAM NOTES: In the midst of producing its two Christmas shows, Lamb’s Players Theatre got a visit from the Grinch. A week ago Monday, someone stole their trailer filled with the costumes and props for school touring shows. Now the company will be working overtime to try to recreate goblin masks, armor and sound effects for the kids by January. . . .

Ruse at the Marquis landed the San Diego premiere of Charles Busch’s long-running Off Broadway spoof, “Vampire Lesbians of Sodom.” But the Ruse production, which opens with a special New Year’s Eve party Dec. 31 to reopen Jan. 3, will be followed in August by the Sweetooth Comedy Theatre production at the Maryland Hotel.

CRITIC’S CHOICE

‘SEASON’S GREETINGS’ AT NORTH COAST REPERTORY

Your Christmas may not have been all that you thought it would be, but at least it couldn’t have been much worse than the one in “Season’s Greetings” at the North Coast Repertory Theatre. Under the skillful direction of Mark Hofflund, a fine cast finds depth in what could have been a brittle comedy about a crazy, gun-toting uncle, relationships in which husbands and wives are at each other’s throats, and Christmas presents that don’t make it intact to Christmas morning. Performances at 8 p.m. through Saturday. At the Loma Santa Fe shopping plaza, Solana Beach, 481-1055.