The Island By Athol Fugard Sparknotes
The Island By Athol Fugard/winston Ntshona/john Kani

Cellmates John and Winston are imprisoned on an island for fighting against South African apartheid. They spend their days undertaking back-breaking labor outside in the searing heat, and are generally mistreated by the guards, one of whom they refer to as 'Hodoshe,' a word for a carrion fly that feeds on decaying dead bodies. A brotherly feeling has developed between John and Winston, and they share stories of their lives with each other. They picture days at the beach, and speak of childhood and happier times.

The men are busy rehearsing for a performance of Sophocles's play Antigone; John plays the role of Creon, Winston plays Antigone. So far, rehearsals have been mostly in their own cells, in their prison clothes. Black hole sun mp3. When Winston tries on his female costume for the first time, he almost pulls out of the play altogether, humiliated by the thought of appearing in drag in front of the other prisoners.

The Island By Athol Fugard Sparknotes

New york theater review, theatre, BAM, Fugard. So it was three decades ago, in a South Africa ruled by an apartheid regime, that John Kani and Winston Ntshona wrote The Island, a remarkable play about life on the prison of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela spent twenty two years.

Amidst the preparations for the play, John is summoned to the prison governor's office, where he learns that his appeal was successful. He is going to be released in three months, after having originally been sentenced to 10 years. Although Winston is happy for his friend, thoughts of home combine with regret and he starts to unravel emotionally. He wonders why he got involved with making a stand against the regime in the first place. Gpx magicscan software. Winston vows to endure his sentence, but tells John that he will likely forget all about him, beaten down by years in a cell.

Performance time comes quickly; John, playing Creon, sentences Winston, in character as Antigone, to be walled into a cave because she has defied him and instead shown her loyalty to her brother by giving him a proper burial. The plot of Antigone mirrors the plight of the two prisoners, who fought for what they believed in. They stare at the audience, having taken off their costumes, begging to be understood. The play ends with John and Winston running, still chained together, with the sound of sirens going in the background.

The Island By Athol Fugard/winston Ntshona/john Kani

See full list on academicdestressor.com. Cellmates John and Winston are imprisoned on an island for fighting against South African apartheid. They spend their days undertaking back-breaking labor outside in the searing heat, and are generally mistreated by the guards, one of whom they refer to as ' Hodoshe,' a word for a carrion fly that feeds on decaying dead bodies.

Try thinking about every time you have been bullied or feel segregated from a group of people. There are countless amounts of times where we can recall a time where we feel like the odd person out or the last person picked to play kickball. “Oh, they have John! We are definitely going to win now!” are never words you want to hear about you ever. Our natural instincts as humans is bottle up all of our negative energy and attempt to forget about what had just transpired and move forward. For some people, this may be very difficult due to the fact that their life depends on it. Apartheid in South Africa segregated races in order to purify their country. It can be easily seen that most of these blacks would have been very unhappy with the government they are apart of. The negative energy doesn’t always get bottled up in this case and sometimes it leads to revolt, such as in Sophocles’, Antigone, and in The Island by Athol Fugard. Unfortunately, many people get killed when this such event occurs. Since the entire country of South Africa is under racial prejudice, similar to Creon’s rule in Antigone, the characters in both The Island and Antigone feel the obligation to protest authority and change the course of their lives in similar methods. It is first very important to understand deep history of Apartheid to actually understand the story of The Island and the messages it sends. The beginning of Apartheid marked a big turning point in South African history. In the beginning,