Victory is not a given in Fugard play

With a wild criminal driven insane by his desire for cash, a naïve young girl madly in love with him, and a man fighting for his life, Victory looks at the crime and violence stalking South Africa today.

THERE is chaos on the stage - books are strewn across the floor and two unruly characters are searching for something.

It's obvious they have caused the mayhem. And so opens Victory, a play currently showing at the Market Theatre.

Freddie and his girlfriend, Vicky, have broken into Lionel's house and are looking for money they believe is stashed away in one of the hundreds of books in his study. On their mission, Vicky unearths a bottle of liquor hidden in a bookcase. The chaos turns into anarchy when the two take a few swigs from the bottle.

For some reason Vicky, whose mother worked for Lionel as a maid some time ago, thinks Lionel has a fortune hidden in the house. Naïve and madly in love with Freddie, she laps up every bit of raving that spews out of his mouth.

Freddie is a violent character, a gangster who bullies Vicky into being dishonest. Very ambitious in his search for greener pastures in Cape Town, Freddie's aim is to become a member of the Cape's Americans gang. It fuels his desperation for the hidden money.

Violence unfurls when Lionel unexpectedly bursts into the study, brandishing a gun. To his consternation he finds that Vicky is an accomplice in the burglary. Freddie wrestles the gun from Lionel and the tables are turned. Despite this, Lionel stands by his story that there is no money in the house, inciting the gun-brandishing Freddie into frenzy.

It won't take much for Freddie to pull the trigger.

Turning his attention to a gullible Vicky, Lionel tries to convince her to persuade her boyfriend to give up the gun and they will be forgiven and allowed to leave. Vicky agrees but Freddie remains steadfast - he is adamant there is money somewhere in the house.

The play, spellbinding as it is, does not delve deeply into the three characters. We see only a fleeting glimpse of their background and the audience is not given a chance to identify with either of them. And, because there is no resolution at the end of the play, Victory leaves the audience with more questions than answers.

The work of acclaimed playwright Athol Fugard, the play is directed by Lara Foot Newton. "I was very moved and taken aback when Athol told me that this play was based on a real event that had happened to him. I was shocked, and so very sorry to hear that he too had been a survivor of crime and violence in our country."

Newton says it is amazing that, once again, Fugard has tried to make sense of the atrocity of injustice in South Africa through his work and wisdom.

"One of the key issues we debated was whether this play was a play of complete darkness and attrition, suggesting that hope in our country is absolutely dead and meaningless, or whether it is a 'Be careful' play, a warning that if you don't wake up now, it might be too late."

The three actors, Wayne van Rooyen (Freddie), Ameera Patel (Vicky) and Cobus Rossouw (Lionel), play their characters well. And even though no solution to the problem is presented, the play is worth the trip to the Market.

Victory is on until 1 July at the Laager Theatre, at the Market Theatre. Tickets are available at Computicket.

Source: By Ndaba Dlamini from Johannesburg News Agency Article link is at http://www.joburg.org.za/2007/may/may31_victory.stm

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