Summary
Summary The Island notes
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A set of notes for the play "The Island" by Athol Fugard, Winston Ntshona and John Kani. Easy to understand and in-depth. Made by an A drama student
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1 of 11The Island
• Context:
☇ Heavy censorship abt Robben Island
☇ Reasons for imprisonment:
Apartheid SA
Political prisoners
Pass book laws
☇ John imprisoned 10 yrs
☇ Winston imprisoned inde nitely → ideological reasons
• In uences:
〄 Workshop theatre
〄 Robben Island
〄 Antigone & ancient Greek theatre (Sophocles)
〄 Existentialism
〄 Absurdism
〄 Brecht’s Alienation
〄 Grotowski’s “Poor Theatre” (particularly opening & multifunctional use of props)
〄 Fuagard’s birth place
〄 Back streets of PE → the boarding house
〄 UCT campus → encouraged liberal ideas
〄 F’s ability to tell stories/ give voice to the marginalised
〄 Apartheid & what it did to all ppl living in SA
〄 African Storytelling →African Oral Traditions
〄 Protest Theatre
〄 Fuagard’s personal experiences
〄 John & Winston’s personal experiences
〄 Epic Theatre (Brecht) — trial scene
〄 Realism (authentic moments in prison cell)
• Title:
‣ “The Island” refers to Robben Island → maximum security prison that held political
prisoners
‣ Deals w/ life on Robben Island w/ a two-man version of Antigone (put together by
Ntshinga & “Sharkey” Mguqulwa based on there memory when they served their
sentences)
‣ Statement play w/ personal inward exploration of SA’s destructive Apartheid laws
‣ Fugard’s aim:
: Shatter white complacency
: Expose the truth
‣ Kani & Ntshona declared each performance = an “endorsement of the local &
international call for the immediate release of Nelson Mandela and all political
prisoners and detainees”
‣ Play = 1st called “The Hodoshe Span” → after the infamous warder nicknamed
Hodoshe (carrion y) → this was obscure bc it was illegal to make activities inside
⚛︎ fl fl fi
, 2 of 11
the prison known to the outside →Hodoshe stood for white SA tyranny → like
green carrion y, he ate @ prisoners humanity to destroy them physically,
emotionally & spiritually
• Structure & Plot:
• Structure:
〄 4 scenes: Scene I — exposition
: Scene II — complications
: Scene III —crisis
: Scene IV — climax
〄 Scenes interpreted w/ song, rehearsals, memories, physical labour & monologues
to convey their message → a song of passive resistance against Apartheid
〄 Stricture = episodic (not chronological) → reinforces didactic message (Brechtian
convention )
〄 Time lapses → indicated through blackouts/ mentioned in dialogue
〄 Transaction bt episodes moves rapidly & scenes linked w/ music, songs & sounds
e ects
〄 Play w/in play forms part of stricture
〄 Cyclical pattern
〄 Multilingual → predominantly SA English → rich & diverse mixture of language,
slang & use of profanities
→ v emotive non-verbal language
〄 Final scene blend greek poetics w/ African/ English theatre language traditions
〄 Open ended monologue (A) → disturbing ending → aimed tome audience feel
guilty & create awareness
• Plot:
〄 2 Prisoners intro doing hard, physical labour, digging holes @ the beach → then
they go back their cells together (chained) showing their unbroken solidarity
despite the humiliating & severe torture
〄 John & Winston articulate their su ering though Sophocles’ Antigone →
revitalising the classic tragedy to a topical, local situation (Apartheid)
〄 W=A
‣ Share su ering & resentment w/ audience
‣ W tears o costume @ end → discarding his tragic role of Greek princess
and accepting fate w/out resentment (accepting his doom as black SA w/
life sentence)
〄 Throughout play W voices anguish, truth (disturbances of many who died during
riots/ while in police custody ) & su ering of many black ppl
〄 Before lights out — they play games & remember their families and friends
〄 John is told he is eligible for early release → meaning separation in brotherhood
〄 Last scene uses the audience:
: Creon’s case for law & order = opposed by Antigone
: Antigone pleads humanity & willingly accepts incarceration
(punishment for act of de ance against C’s tyranny)
〄 J&W run o stage together (chained)
〄 Play = intense agony, humiliation, torture & degradation w/ strong contrast in
obstinance, pride, dignity & humanity
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