“I am a regional writer,” claimed South African playwright Athol Fugard, and this engrossing encounter between a brother and sister, first performed in 1965, is firmly set in the poor quarter of his home town, Port Elizabeth.
Johnny’s monologue musings on madness are interrupted by the unexpected arrival of Hester, his sister, returning to the family home after a 12-year absence. Why is she there? The answer she gives is only partly true: to claim her share of the money she believes her father received in compensation for the loss of his leg in a work-related accident many years before.
John R Wilkinson’s direction sensitively exposes the mythic scope of Fugard’s seemingly local action. As the siblings rifle through boxes, uncovering the meagre contents of their family past, it becomes clear that their real search is for meaning – to make sense of their misfortunes and shape their identities. Their quest is hopeless, and yet the performances by Emilio Iannucci and Jo Mousley, excoriating, naturalistic and striated with humour, provide such powerful expressions of the human spirit that the play’s final word – “resurrection” – feels fitting.
Hello and Goodbye is at York Theatre Royal until 30 November
