Attended a talk today by the famous South African playwright Athol Fugard. Lovely stories – he quit university three months before he got his degree, hitch-hiked throughout Africa, he didn’t want to be seduced into teaching or “good jobs” by the security of being a graduate. He wanted to write, and he did.
Some words of wisdom from his long life.
– In writing begin with stories and words, the politics seeps in but don’t start there
– Writing is cannibalism – you cannibalize people when you put them in your plays
– Every play starts with a secret, guard that secret carefully
– The five stages of death (a beautiful structure for a play)
Fresh, bloat, decay, advanced decay, dry remains
Thoughts from a son of the soil who has come back home as he moves towards his own passing.
