Valley Song is presented by International City Theatre and directed and produced by caryn desai [sic]. The playwright is Athol Fugard.
The story develops in the South African region known as the Karoo, a vast semi-desert with sparse vegetation and wildlife and a few isolated farms. The protagonist, Abraam Jonkers (Michael A. Shepperd, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), lives in a small pumpkin farm with her granddaughter Veronica (Belle Guillory). They are considered coloured, a term used to refer to people of mixed ancestry. Despite not being the owner of the farm, Abraam is proud of his life—farming and attending church services. Living under the system of the apartheid, he has been conditioned to limit his goals and dreams to the farm, working for the White owner.
The beginning of the play shows a relative peaceful life in the farm. Abraam works the land while Veronica tends to the house. It is when conflict appears in the story that their lives turn upside down. Veronica has a talent for singing. She sings in the house and church. However, she has bigger dreams. She is planning on leaving the farm and try her luck in Johannesburg as a singer. When Abraam finds out, he is reluctant to the idea and is determined to prevent Veronica from following her dreams. Abraam’s concerns reveal the aspirations and final fate of Veronica’s mother.
Abraam’s opposition to Veronica’s dreams is a consequence of how the system of segregation inflicted many negative ideas to the people of South Africa. For one, it instilled the idea of a superior race to the Whites, giving them access to better education, ownership of land, better jobs, and the control of the country. On the other hand, it suppressed the goals and dreams of a better life to most of the Black people, forcing them to a life of poor education, low-paying jobs, living conditions without basic services like running water, and violent police repression that turned deathly in many cases. For Abraam, the further he can go in life is the perimeter of the farm. Any aspiration of something better is nonexistent. When he finds out that a White man wants to buy the farm he has been working on for the last 40 years, Abraam’s only wish is to beg the White man to let him stay and continue to work on the land. He even intends to ask the White man to let Veronica work for him cleaning his house. But Veronica has other plans.
This is a fascinating story that resumes many of the ongoing issues of South Africa. Abraam represents the old generation of Black South Africans growing up in a segregated society. A generation that finds it difficult to let go of the past, conditioned to live perpetually in servitude. Veronica represents the newer generation of Blacks that feel empowered to dream of a better life. The Author, played also by Michael A. Shepperd, is the playwright himself, Athol Fugard. This character is a representation of those that dreamed and fought to overthrow the policy of apartheid and change the minds and hearts of South Africans to build a more inclusive society.
One of the characteristics of Abraam and The Author is their love for the Karoo, the land where they live and work. Throughout the play, there are references to the strong connection to that land and the farming of it as a generational way of life. The stage design (Yuri Okahana-Benson, set designer and Crystal R. Shomph, lighting designer) shows the colors and elements of the distinctive landscape of the Karoo.
Fugard is one of the artists that defied the systemic racism of South Africa during the apartheid era. He has been writing about his experiences in multiple of his plays and has received multiple awards worldwide including an Oscar in 2006 for Tsotsi, adapted from his novel of the same title and the Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre Tony Award in 2011.
Valley Song is a play that allows us to experience the textures of a society that is trying to break away from the past in hopes of building a country where justice and equality prevail despite the many challenges still pending today. Any resemblance to America?
The creative team includes set designer Yuri Okahana-Benson, lighting designer Crystal R. Shomph, costume designer Kim DeShazo, sound designer Dave Mickey, prop designer Patty Briles, and hair and wigs designer Anthony Gagliardi. Casting is by Michael Donovan, CSA and Richie Ferris, CSA. The production stage manager is Sarah Dawn Lowry.
Valley Song
Written by Athol Fugard. Directed and Produced by caryn desai [sic]. Starring Belle Guillory and Michael A. Shepperd. Presented by International City Theatre.
INTERNATIONAL CITY THEATRE
Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center
330 East Seaside Way
Long Beach, CA 90802
Thursdays at 8 p.m.: Sept. 1, Sept. 8
Fridays at 8 p.m.: Aug. 26 (Opening Night), Sept. 2, Sept. 9
Saturdays at 8 p.m.: Aug. 27, Sept. 3, Sept. 10
Sundays at 2 p.m.: Aug. 28, Sept. 4, Sept. 11
Tickets: ictlongbeach.org
