Review: STATEMENTS AFTER AN ARREST UNDER THE IMMORALITY ACT, Orange Tree Theatre

Famous for his overtly political works against apartheid, Athol Fugard is probably South Africa's most highly regarded playwright. The Orange Tree Theatre put on his searing Blood Knot in 2019 about brothers across the race divide and now revisits his work with the powerful story of a forbidden relationship between a white woman and a black man in Statements After An Arrest Under The Immorality Act.

Frieda is a librarian. When Errol comes to the library to carry out research, Frieda tries to help him; they fall in love and begin an affair. However, this seemingly simple story is overshadowed by the dark spectre of the South African apartheid. Frieda is white and Errol is black and under the Immorality Act of the time, relationships between whites and non-white people were outlawed. When the couple is discovered, they are arrested and tried.

The cast all create characters that are very human and believable. Scarlett Brookes is convincing as Frieda; she cuts a lonely figure, with a deep need for human contact and company. Even after her arrest, she does not express regret or remorse, just insecurity and pain at their separation.

Shaq Taylor gives enormous humanity and stage presence to the character of Errol; proud, frightened, conflicted and struggling to rationalise why the couple cannot be together. Fugard gives more flesh to his character, as he has the added dimension of having a family already.

Richard Sutton is darkly angry as Detective Sergeant du Preez; although his accent waivers a little at times, he is strident and officious, almost spitting with fury at the temerity of the couple to have engaged with each other.

Fugard's script varies in pace and intensity; the jumping between real conversations and statements made after the arrest works well and there is a real sense of the danger and tension within the society of the time. However, the first twenty minutes meander and Frieda needs more depth to her character; it would have been interesting to explore her home life or her lack of a previous relationship further.

The direction is deftly handled by 2021 JMK award winner, Diana Page, in a challenging space designed by Niall McKeever. The cast nimbly negotiate their movements in and around what looks like a blue fabric-lined sink hole. Esther Kehinde Ajayi's sound design is striking, using a low pulsating undercurrent of sound, as though reflecting the impending doom of the situation.

Overall, the production is intensely thought-provoking. Today we have heightened awareness of the prejudice that remains in our society. However, in the UK today, the thought that it would be against the law for a couple to be together because the colour of their skin is not the same is simply baffling. Fugard's play neatly exposes the cruel juxtaposition of the pursuit of legal justice for a crime that, in itself, is so fundamentally unjust.

This is a love story, but is also a searing commentary on discrimination, injustice and hate. Incredibly, the ban on interracial sex in South Africa was not lifted until 1985; the fact that these restrictions were an everyday reality for so many is one that stays with you long after the show ends.

Statements After An Arrest Under The Immorality Act is at the Orange Tree Theatre until October 2

Photo Credit: Helen Maybanks

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