A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  1w, 2m, 1boy(s)

Athol Fugard returns with a new play inspired by the life of outsider artist, Nukain Mabusa.

The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    1w, 2m, 1boy(s)
  • Duration
    Duration
    105 Minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Docudrama/History
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult

Details

Summary
Aging farm laborer Nukain has spent his life transforming the rocks at Revolver Creek into a vibrant garden of painted flowers. Now, the final unpainted rock, as well as his young companion Bokkie, has forced Nukain to confront his legacy as a painter, a person and a black man in 1980s South Africa. When the landowner’s wife arrives with demands about the painting, the profound rifts of a country hurtling toward the end of apartheid are laid bare.
History

The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek premiered in New York City with the Signature Theatre in April of 2015 under the direction of Athol Fugard.

Cast Attributes
Performing Groups

NUKIAN – Tata to Bokkie, Outa to Elmarie. An old black man, a natural innocent who has never lost a childlike capacity for looking at the world with wonder. When we first see him, however, he is a troubled man. He wears a farm labourer’s pair of faded denim overalls a size too small, his scrawny ankles visible above a pair of gaudily-painted tekkies. There is an equally-old knitted cap on his head.
BOKKIE – A bright and intelligent young black boy about eleven years old. He is barefoot and wears a faded T-shirt and short khaki trousers. He appears pulling a gaudily-painted little wagon, loaded with an assortment of paints - black, green, yellow, blue, and red - and brushes together with a plastic bottle of water and a jar filled with turpentine.
ELMARIE KLEYNHANS – A farmer’s wife living and working on the family farm, Vredewater. She is an Afrikaner and a devout Christian. When we first see her in Act I, she is in her 40’s. Having returned from church, she is still wearing the special outfit she reserves for church services. In Act II, she is twenty years older and appears wearing the clothes necessary for a working day on the farm.
JONATHAN SEJAKE – The young Bokkie of Act I, now a grown man who goes by his ‘real name,’ Jonathan Sejake. A young, well-educated man in his mid-thirties, full of energy and conviction. He is dressed neatly and is burdened with a heavy backpack.

  • Time Period Contemporary, 1980s
  • Setting The summit of a small koppie in the Mpumalanga Province of South Africa in the year 1981 and 2003.
  • Duration 105 Minutes
  • Cautions
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

REVIEWS

"...placing that powerful symbol of a man’s human dignity in a modern-day context." - Variety, Read More

"...tender, ruminative..." The New York Times, Read More

"The Painted Rocks at Revolver Creek is an intimate theatrical gem." Hollywood Reporter,

"... Fugard, once again, stamps indelible human faces on faraway reports of the world's news." Newsday, Read More


Videos

  • Signature Theatre Trailer youtube thumbnail

    Signature Theatre Trailer

  • Fountain Theatre Trailer youtube thumbnail

    Fountain Theatre Trailer

  • Athol Fugard on The Painted Rocks of Revolver Creek youtube thumbnail

    Athol Fugard on The Painted Rocks of Revolver Creek

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

Available Formats:

Authors

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, ...

View full profile

Now Playing