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- 128 pages
- English
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About This Book
Includes the plays Concealment and Fever Set in England's colonial outposts in South Africa during the 19th Century, both of the plays in this volume feature sisters forced by a deeply conservative, patriarchal society to resist the powerful call of their vivid surroundings and to stifle the demands of their own rich, feminine sexuality. In Concealment, Amy and her father travel to South Africa to retrieve her recently widowed sister, but are disturbed to find her untouched by grief, unwilling to return and drawn instead to the wild, natural beauty of her moonlit garden. In Fever, Emma corresponds with Katy back in England, who learns the full and terrible extent of her sister's yearning and isolation when she discovers her hidden diary.
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Yes, you can access de Wet: Two Plays by Reza de Wet in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Literature & Literary Criticism in Drama. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
CONCEALMENT
Characters
FATHER (DR FROST)
An imposing man in his late fifties. He is somewhat florid, with penetrating deep-set eyes.
AMY
His eldest daughter, in her early thirties. She is pale and rather angular. Her hair is worn in a bun. She has large, luminous eyes.
MAY
A delicate girl in her late twenties. Her long, abundant hair is loosely tied back. Her skin has turned a rich, golden brown from the sun.
Concealment was first performed on 20 May 2004 in the Box Theatre at the Rhodes University Theatre complex. It was produced by Rhodes Drama Department on the occasion of the Rhodes University Centenary celebrations. The cast were:
FATHER (DR FROST), Lindsay Reardon
AMY, Dani Marais
MAY, Ashleigh May Kok
Director Reza de Wet
Designer Roux Engelbrecht
Lighting Clay Williams
The action takes place on board a steamship and in the interior of colonial Africa during the early 1900s.
THE SET
The stage is divided into different playing areas. Upstage right is the dining room. There is an entrance back that leads to the bedrooms and an entrance right that leads to the kitchen and the garden. Upstage left is AMYās room with an entrance left. These areas take up two-thirds of the stage depth. The shallower front section is used for the steamship, the garden and the river. MAYās bedroom is placed centrestage with an entrance downstage right. Two large, movable scrims are used to separate these areas. They are mounted on metal frames which move noiselessly and quickly. When the dining room is indicated, the screen is in front of the bedroom. When the bedroom is indicated, the screen is in front of the dining room. The steamship, the garden and the river are set in front of the two screens. When the action takes place in MAYās house or garden, two gobos of green, long-leafed exotic plants are projected onto the screens whenever they are seen. For a few scenes, as indicated, the scrims become transparent revealing the action behind them.
The dining room: a long, heavy table. The head of the table upstage. There is a chair at the head of the table and a chair on either side of the table. A window gobo throws window squares onto the floor far right.
The bedroom: a narrow cast-iron bed with a mosquito net. A small table right and a wooden chair near the bed. A window gobo throws window squares onto the floor far left.
Steamboat: two deckchairs right front. These are isolated in a pool of light.
The river: the front of the stage is used. The scrims are suffused with the deep red of the setting sun.
The garden: either the left or the right side of the stage can be used. When the garden bench is in view, it is placed centre left.
For MAYās room, the two screens are set at a sharp angle centrestage, where there is a narrow, iron bed. The leafy gobos are projected onto the screens. The gobo projections give a cold green light to the scene.
Lighting. The interior scenes, whether by day or by night, should be darkly lit. For the day scene this creates a sense of a gloomy, shuttered house, and for the night scenes a contrast between the fragile, flickering candles and the vast surrounding darkness.
SCENE ONE
A steamship. A bright sunny day. The sound of water lapping. FATHER and AMY are sitting in deckchairs on the deck. AMY is reading and FATHER is looking out to sea. It is a bright, hot day.
FATHER: Look at that sun boiling down. And not a breeze. The sea is like glass. (Licks his finger and holds it up.) Hardly a thing! In the days of the sailing ships, we would have been stuck here in the doldrums for weeks. Thank God for modern civilization. And then this of course, as I was saying, he had such a fair skin. I meanā¦would you go out in that? (Pointing out.) I told him to be careful. I told them both. And a doctor. He should have known better.
AMY: I agree, father. It seemsā¦so unnecessary.
FATHER: In factā¦I was against the whole thing from the beginning. You remember that donāt you? Iām not surprised that it ended in tragedy.
AMY: I do, father.
FATHER: But you rather supported him. Supported the whole foolish venture. I couldnāt understand that. It really disappointed me at the time.
AMY: You see, fatherā¦there was something in him. He seemedā¦not to fear martyrdom! I feltā¦so very sympathetic.
FATHER: Martyrdom! Look where that got him. It is not that I donāt sympathise with the idealism of philanthropistsā¦but one should simply not take it too far. The prominence of his familyā¦his excellent educationā¦such a waste. Surely there are enough missionaries. They are the scourge of the colonies. Priggish men without distinction. Wellā¦maybe he was one of them. He certainly had their particular brand ofā¦narrow fanaticism. I said it then and I say it again. I donāt know what she saw in him. And almost twice her age. With her looks and vivacityā¦she could have made a brilliant marriage. Ah, but let me not dwell on that.
AMY: (Tearful.) Fatherā¦I must ask you not to speak of him in this way. I really donāt think itās fitting. He died onlyā¦so recentlyā¦and thenā¦ Iām afraidā¦ I cannot agree with you on this. I thinkā¦he was an exceptionalā¦a giftedā¦sensitiveā¦and giving person. (Getting more distressed.) And I think May was very fortunate to be his wifeā¦evenā¦for such a short time.
FATHER: Calm down my dear. Calm down. Since we started on this voyageā¦Iāve noticed that you are easily excited. Itās the seasickness, wearing you out, making you susceptible to theseā¦uncharacteristic outbursts. Luckily I know about these things so I donāt blame you. (Suddenly noticing something in the sea.) And what is that? Over there? (Pointing.) Can you see it? Itās over there! There!
AMY: (Softly and tearfully.) No, father.
FATHER: Maybe itās a porpoise. Or a dolphin. There it is again! (Watches.) Now itās gone, I canāt see it anymore.
AMY: (Still distressed.) If only you could have heard him speaking, father, as he used to speak to me! He used to speak so freely! With suchā¦passionate conviction! Because he knewā¦I was sympathetic. You made him feelā¦a little awkward. Even Mayā¦didnāt really understand. But Iā¦brought out the best in him! If only you could have seen howā¦
FATHER: (Interrupting.) Iām ...
Table of contents
- Front Cover
- Half-Title Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Authorās Note
- Concealment
- Fever