Boesman and Lena

Boesman and Lena
Written by	Athol Fugard
Characters	Boesman; Lena; Outa
Date premiered	1969
Original language	English
Setting	Eastern Cape, South Africa

Boesman and Lena is a small-cast play by South African playwright Athol Fugard, set in the Swartkops mudflats outside the playwright's native Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape, that shows the effect of apartheid on a few individuals, featuring as characters a "Coloured" man and woman walking from one shanty town to another.

In common with much of Fugard's other work, the play focuses on non-white characters and includes an element of social protest. Boesman and Lena was inspired by an incident in 1965 when Fugard was driving down a rural road in South Africa. He noticed an old lady walking along the road in the boiling-hot sun, miles from anywhere, and offered her a lift. She was overcome and cried with gratitude. She told him that her husband had just died and she was walking to another farm. If Fugard had not stopped, she would have spent the night on the side of the road. (It was a common practice in apartheid South Africa for farmers to evict worker's families when the worker died.) What struck Fugard was that the woman was in pain and suffering but was far from defeated. This inspired him to write the play.

The play premiered in 1969 at the Rhodes University Little Theatre in Grahamstown, South Africa. Fugard himself played the part of Boesman, Lena was played by Yvonne Bryceland and Glynn Day, a white actor, played the part of Outa in blackface.

On 22 June 1970, the US premiere, an acclaimed off-Broadway at the Circle in the Square Downtown, starred James Earl Jones and Ruby Dee, directed by John Berry (who would also direct a film version, also titled Boesman and Lena, in 2000). Running for 205 performances until 24 January 1971, the production won Obie Awards for Best Foreign Play, Distinguished Direction, and Best Performance by an Actress.

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