Blood Knot
Encyclopedia
Blood Knot is an early play by South African playwright, actor, and director Athol Fugard
, performed first, but only one time, in Johannesburg
, South Africa
, in 1961, with the playwright Fugard and Zakes Mokae
playing the brothers Morris and Zachariah.
Lucille Lortel
produced The Blood Knot, starring J.D. Cannon as Morris and James Earl Jones
as Zachariah at the Cricket Theatre, Off Broadway, in New York City
, in 1964, "launch[ing]" Fugard's "American career." It was the first South African play performed with an interracial cast.
Its Broadway
premiere was at the John Golden Theatre
, in 1986, with playwright Fugard and Zakes Mokae
playing the brothers, as they had in the play's single premiere performance in Johannesburg.
The lonely Zachariah has struck up a pen-pal relationship with a white girl, and entertains fantasies that she might fall in love with him. The more level-headed Morris tries to disabuse Zachariah of such notions, and warns him that in segregated South Africa, such a relationship can only mean trouble, especially since the girl has indicated in letters that she has a brother who's a policeman.
Morris' fears are soon realized, as Zachariah's pen-pal writes to say that she's coming to visit Port Elizabeth, and wants to meet Zachariah. Zachariah must face the tragic truth that he can never have a future with her, that she can never love him, and that she would be horrified to see who he really is. To avoid having her meet Zachariah, the brothers agree to have the white-looking Morris meet her, and pass himself off as Zachariah.
To prepare for the date, Morris buys some fine "white" clothes with the money that he and his brother had been saving. When he puts on the clothes, he begins to adopt the white mannerisms and speech patterns that he'd learned years earlier, when trying to "pass" in white society. As he does so, he begins to treat his brother like an inferior, as any middle-class white South African would treat a black servant.
When a letter arrives, indicating that the girl will not be coming for a visit after all, Zachariah and his relieved brother Morris begin a new role-playing game. This time, the game take bizarre twists. It becomes evident that Morris secretly holds his brother in disdain, and Zachariah secretly harbors thoughts of killing Morris.
The play ends with no real resolution. Morris and Zachariah will, apparently, remain together for many unhappy years to come, needing each other, but unable to bridge the gap brought about by their respective skin tones.
was shot in May 1963 for the highly regarded Armchair Theatre
anthology series, but was never transmitted, although the recording has survived. After the rights on the script had lapsed, another production for the BBC 2
's Theatre 625
strand was made in 1967, with Fugard's collaboration. It starred the Jamaica
n actor Charles Hyatt
as Zach and Fugard himself again playing Morris; Fugard was pleased with the results:
Less pleased, committed to the system of apartheid, the South Africa
n government of B. J. Vorster confiscated his passport.
The play was revived at the Roundabout Theatre in 1980.
Reviewing an annniversary performance of the revival in 1985, starring Fugard himself in the role of Morris and Zakes Mokae
in the role of Zach (the roles both originated in South Africa in 1961), New York Times
drama critic Mel Gussow
describes the play as "An artfully executed theatrical dialogue...one can discover the seeds of the author's art. Themes, motifs, images and the author's own impassioned conscience are all there in organic form." In Time (magazine)
, the same performance was reviewed by Pulitzer Prize
-winning critic William A. Henry III
, who notices the long collaboration between the two actors, Fugard and Mokae: "The actors' blood knot of decades of fraternal friendship has only ripened their truth onstage."
Athol Fugard
Athol Fugard is a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director who writes in English, best known for his political plays opposing the South African system of apartheid and for the 2005 Academy-Award winning film of his novel Tsotsi, directed by Gavin Hood...
, performed first, but only one time, in Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, in 1961, with the playwright Fugard and Zakes Mokae
Zakes Mokae
Zakes Makgona Mokae was a South African-born American actor.-Life and career:Mokae was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, moved to Great Britain in 1961, and to the United States in 1969. He turned to acting at the same time as playwright Athol Fugard was emerging...
playing the brothers Morris and Zachariah.
Lucille Lortel
Lucille Lortel
Lucille Lortel was an American actress and theater producer who is remembered as the namesake of an off-Broadway playhouse and theatrical award....
produced The Blood Knot, starring J.D. Cannon as Morris and James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones
James Earl Jones is an American actor. He is well-known for his distinctive bass voice and for his portrayal of characters of substance, gravitas and leadership...
as Zachariah at the Cricket Theatre, Off Broadway, in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, in 1964, "launch[ing]" Fugard's "American career." It was the first South African play performed with an interracial cast.
Its Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
premiere was at the John Golden Theatre
John Golden Theatre
The John Golden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 252 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan. Designed in a Moorish style along with the adjacent Royale Theatre by architect Herbert J. Krapp for Irwin Chanin, it opened as the Theatre Masque on February 24 1927 with the play Puppets of Passion...
, in 1986, with playwright Fugard and Zakes Mokae
Zakes Mokae
Zakes Makgona Mokae was a South African-born American actor.-Life and career:Mokae was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, moved to Great Britain in 1961, and to the United States in 1969. He turned to acting at the same time as playwright Athol Fugard was emerging...
playing the brothers, as they had in the play's single premiere performance in Johannesburg.
Plot summary
There are only two characters in the play, a pair of brothers named Morris and Zachariah. Both were raised by the same black mother, but had different fathers, and Morris is much more fair-skinned than Zachariah. Morris can pass for white, and has done so in the past, but now he has returned to live with Zachariah in a small, miserable shack in the "colored" section of Port Elizabeth. Morris keeps the house, while Zachariah works to support them both. They're saving money in hopes of buying a farm of their own some day. Both Morris and Zachariah have rich imaginations, and have taken part in role-playing games together since they were small boys.The lonely Zachariah has struck up a pen-pal relationship with a white girl, and entertains fantasies that she might fall in love with him. The more level-headed Morris tries to disabuse Zachariah of such notions, and warns him that in segregated South Africa, such a relationship can only mean trouble, especially since the girl has indicated in letters that she has a brother who's a policeman.
Morris' fears are soon realized, as Zachariah's pen-pal writes to say that she's coming to visit Port Elizabeth, and wants to meet Zachariah. Zachariah must face the tragic truth that he can never have a future with her, that she can never love him, and that she would be horrified to see who he really is. To avoid having her meet Zachariah, the brothers agree to have the white-looking Morris meet her, and pass himself off as Zachariah.
To prepare for the date, Morris buys some fine "white" clothes with the money that he and his brother had been saving. When he puts on the clothes, he begins to adopt the white mannerisms and speech patterns that he'd learned years earlier, when trying to "pass" in white society. As he does so, he begins to treat his brother like an inferior, as any middle-class white South African would treat a black servant.
When a letter arrives, indicating that the girl will not be coming for a visit after all, Zachariah and his relieved brother Morris begin a new role-playing game. This time, the game take bizarre twists. It becomes evident that Morris secretly holds his brother in disdain, and Zachariah secretly harbors thoughts of killing Morris.
The play ends with no real resolution. Morris and Zachariah will, apparently, remain together for many unhappy years to come, needing each other, but unable to bridge the gap brought about by their respective skin tones.
Reception and impact
The play was prepared for transmission on British television twice in the 1960s. The first version directed by Charles JarrottCharles Jarrott
Charles Jarrott was a British film and television director. He was best known for costume dramas he directed for producer Hal B...
was shot in May 1963 for the highly regarded Armchair Theatre
Armchair Theatre
Armchair Theatre is a British television drama anthology series, which ran on the ITV network from 1956 to 1974. It was originally produced by Associated British Corporation, and later by Thames Television after 1968....
anthology series, but was never transmitted, although the recording has survived. After the rights on the script had lapsed, another production for the BBC 2
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
's Theatre 625
Theatre 625
Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC2 from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title referred to its production and transmission being in the higher-definition 625-line...
strand was made in 1967, with Fugard's collaboration. It starred the Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n actor Charles Hyatt
Charles Hyatt
Charles Hyatt was an actor. Born in Kingston, Jamaica, he was a character actor and comedian who appeared in numerous films and television shows, beginning in the 1960s...
as Zach and Fugard himself again playing Morris; Fugard was pleased with the results:
Back in S'Kop after five weeks in London for BBC TV production of The Blood Knot. Myself as Morrie, with Charles Hyatt as Zach. Robin MidgleyRobin MidgleyRobin Midgley was a director in theatre, television and radio and responsible for some of the earliest episodes of Z-Cars and for the television version of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Wars of the Roses.-Early life:...
directing. Midgley reduced the play to 90 minutes...Midgley did manage to dig up things that had been missed in all the other productions. Most exciting was his treatment of the letter writing scene - "Address her" - which he turned into an essay in literacy...Zach sweating as the words clot in his mouth....
Less pleased, committed to the system of apartheid, the South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n government of B. J. Vorster confiscated his passport.
The play was revived at the Roundabout Theatre in 1980.
Reviewing an annniversary performance of the revival in 1985, starring Fugard himself in the role of Morris and Zakes Mokae
Zakes Mokae
Zakes Makgona Mokae was a South African-born American actor.-Life and career:Mokae was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, moved to Great Britain in 1961, and to the United States in 1969. He turned to acting at the same time as playwright Athol Fugard was emerging...
in the role of Zach (the roles both originated in South Africa in 1961), New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
drama critic Mel Gussow
Mel Gussow
Melvyn H. Gussow was an American theater critic, movie critic, and author who wrote for The New York Times for 35 years.-Biography:...
describes the play as "An artfully executed theatrical dialogue...one can discover the seeds of the author's art. Themes, motifs, images and the author's own impassioned conscience are all there in organic form." In Time (magazine)
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, the same performance was reviewed by Pulitzer Prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning critic William A. Henry III
William A. Henry III
William A. Henry III was an award-winning American cultural critic and author.-Career:Henry lived in North Plainfield, New Jersey as a young man. Henry graduated from Yale in 1971 and began his career in journalism in Boston, writing for the Boston Globe. His coverage of school desegregation in...
, who notices the long collaboration between the two actors, Fugard and Mokae: "The actors' blood knot of decades of fraternal friendship has only ripened their truth onstage."