Review - The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek

Athol Fugard has documented so much of South Africa's tormented history - his work is always breathtakingly honest and utterly moving.  And totally theatrical.  His newest work, The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek, may be his last play (Fugard has said as much, but I'm hoping he changes his mind; I can't imagine a world without a new Fugard play) and it continues Fugard's streak of plays that have made me sob uncontrollably.

I almost missed this production, but I'm glad I finally got all my ducks in a row and saw it at the Signature Theatre last night.  Back in the Linney Theatre space, the theater has been transformed to an arid section of South African farmland onto which an elderly black man has been painting "flowers" for years.  There are many rocks scattered along the set, in various stages of brightness and design.  Seeing just sand, painted rocks and sky, you can feel the beauty of the earth in this set design.  And Fugard's script is just as spare and beautiful.  *spoilers will abound from now on*

photo credit: Joan Marcus

At the start of the play, it's 1981, during apartheid.  An elderly farmhand has come up to the rocks to paint "flowers," which is what he has done for years.  There is an enormous rock there, which is the spot he means to tackle.  But suddenly, he can't bring himself to paint.  He says he has no more flowers in him, and that he's afraid this will be his last painting.  Leon Addison Brown as Nukain (based on real-life 'outsider artist' Nukain Mabusa) is heartbreakingly touching.  You feel his spirit having been beaten down by life; when he says he wants to give the rock eyes so he can finally be 'seen,' you get all of the history and pain of a people downtrodden.  His young companion, Bokkie (played by effervescent eleven-year-old Caleb McLaughlin), cannot believe there won't be more painting.  He tries to inject energy and spirit into Nukain, but until Nukain realizes that he doesn't need to paint flowers anymore, he needs to paint himself and his own story, there isn't much inspiration.  After Nukain comes to that realization, the joy and passion that flows while they paint is gorgeous.  The painting on the rock is powerful.  And so moving.  Especially so when the owner of the farm, Mrs. Kleynhans (beautifully portrayed by Bianca Amato) arrives, and the spirit immediately fades and the subservience begins.  Mrs. Kleynhans doesn't appreciate the art and asks that it be washed away and painted over.  Bokkie objects and Mrs. Kleynhans bristles at a young black talking back to her, putting into microcosm the difficulties and oppression of apartheid.  At the end of the act, Nukain shuffles off, beaten because he again hasn't been 'seen,' and Bokkie rebels.  It's a quietly powerful end of the first act.

photo credit: Joan Marcus

The second act takes place in 2003, after apartheid has been abolished.  A young black man, attractively dressed in shirt sleeves and tie, wanders onto this farmland and takes everything in.  It slowly becomes clear to us that this is the grown-up Bokkie.  As he is looking at the big rock, where Nukain's art has faded over the years but traces of it are still visible, suddenly there is shouting and Mrs. Kleynhas appears, carrying a walkie-talkie and pointing a pistol at Bokkie.  The tensions of the Afrikaaners who stayed on their lands is starkly presented in that moment.  Many of the white farmers around her have been attacked recently and she is taking no chances.  Bokkie reminds Mrs. Kleynhas of who is was and she slowly lowers the pistol, while still bitterly condemning the blacks and her country's new position and Constitution.  The young man tells her that he prefers to be known by his given name, Jonathan.  He has returned to reclaim Nukain's painting and to restore it.  Jonathan now wants to be seen.  He wants Mrs. Kleynhas' permission to do this.

We discover that Nukain died three days after we last saw him make that painting and that Jonathan ran away to Zimbabwe.  Obviously, there are passionate feelings on both sides of the South African issue and Jonathan and Mrs. Kleynhas battle angrily.  Finally, Jonathan takes a deep breath and says (I'm paraphrasing), "Let us try again; try to understand each other. If we can't do that, then one thing is certain. Our future will be as big a mess as anything in our past."  This stuns Mrs. Kleynhas and it also stunned me.  From here on out, I was a big mass of tears as each person gave their side of their story and made points that were clear-headed and right, and also passionately wrong, until there was a moment of tentative acknowledgement.

Once again, Fugard has taken this ugly, political mess and turned it into a beautiful story of pain and hope.  This play was quietly and elegantly devastating, with four amazing performances.  The young man playing Jonathan, Yaegel T. Welch, apparently went into the play just last week due to an injury of the original actor.  I couldn't tell.  He seamlessly blended in with the other actors and gave a fully-realized, very touching performance.  I really loved the play and I wish that I had seen it earlier in the run (it closes Sunday) so that I could go back and experience that theatrical exhilaration again.