A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE

Statements After An Arrest Under the Immorality Act

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  1w, 2m

Athol Fugard

Set in apartheid South Africa, where relationships across the color bar were a criminal offence, two lovers - a black man and white woman meet secretly in the library where the woman works to make love and share their hopes and fears...

Statements After An Arrest Under the Immorality Act

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    1w, 2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    90 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Period, Docudrama/History
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary
Set in apartheid South Africa, where relationships across the color bar were a criminal offence, two lovers - a black man and white woman meet secretly in the library where the woman works to make love and share their hopes and fears. An observant neighbour reports them to the police who secretly photographs them from the informant's backyard and eventually break in and arrest the couple under the then inhuman and universally pilloried Immorality Act. The play is a compelling and deeply moving love story in which the physically and emotionally naked lovers expose not only their bodies but also their deepest longings for personal and emotional freedom.
History
Statements After An Arrest Under The Immorality Act premiered in 1972 in South Africa.
Cast Attributes
Performing Groups

FRIEDA JOUBERT - A white librarian
ERROL PHILANDER - a black schoolteacher 
DETECTIVE-SERGEANT J. DUPEREZ - a neighboring white detective

  • Time Period 1980s, 1970s, 1960s
  • Setting After-hours in a library in South Africa, during the apartheid era.
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Duration 90 minutes
  • Cautions
    • Intense Adult Themes
    • Nudity/Partial Nudity

Media

“It is not often that a play performed 40 years after it was written can find such deep resonance in current society... ..the script is poetic....and Fugard’s mastery of language is evident throughout...” - Tracey Saunders, Cape Times

"The writing is honest, and lyrical" - Broadway Baby

"This is a harrowing world of shifting paces and moods" - NYtheatre.com

"Exactly 40 years after it was written, Athol Fugard’s poetic condemnation of South Africa’s Immorality Act, which outlawed interracial intercourse until its repeal in 1985, stands as a fervent memorial, lest we forget the inhumanity of that prohibition." - Edinburg Fringe Festival

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

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Authors

Athol Fugard

Athol Fugard

Athol Fugard is an internationally acclaimed South African playwright whose best-known work deals with the political and social upheaval of the apartheid system in South Africa. He was educated at the University of Cape Town. His plays include “Master Harold”...and the Boys, ...

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