| . | 06/07/2009
Groundswell
By: Victor Gluck
Larry Bryggman, David Lansbury and Souléymane Sy Savané
(Photo credit: Monique Carboni)
The plays that have arrived here from South Africa have tended to be about the troubles during apartheid. Ian Bruce’s Groundswell is different in that it deals with life in South Africa post-apartheid. However, in this powerful but leisurely told, psychological thriller, Bruce demonstrates that in the new South Africa both blacks and whites are now victims. In its structure and storytelling, Bruce’s play has been heavily influenced by the dramas of Athol Fugard, South Africa’s best known playwright. In its investigation of South African male identity, Groundswell resembles the plays of David Mamet.
Director Scott Elliott has chosen an accomplished trio in actors Larry Bryggman, David Lansbury and Souléymane Sy Savané (star of the recent indie film Goodbye Solo) who give pitch-perfect performances in this production by The New Group. The play is set on the barren, diamond-diving coast of South Africa at the Garnet Guest Lodge. It is the off-season and the owners have left the management of the guest house in the hands of Thami, the black gardener (played by Souvané), and Johann, the white handyman who ekes out a living working as a diver on the diamond-diving boats (Lansbury).
Neither man is doing well in post-apartheid South Africa. Thami must work away from his family in order to send money home to the shack in which he has left his wife and children back in the city. Johann, a disgraced former policeman jailed for manslaughter, is now an embittered alcoholic. However, the two men have a pipe dream that has created an uneasy partnership: they hope to buy into a government-run diamond concession and change the course of their dead-end lives. The only problem is that they have no capital.
Enter Smith (Bryggman), a retired investment banker, who represents for them the ruling class. They see him as the answer to their prayers. What they don’t know is that he sees himself as a victim also: he has been pushed out of his job due to the new “affirmative action” and behind his polite and courteous manners, he broods about the way his life has turned out.
The leisurely first half of this intermissionless play is all exposition. Foreshadowing is planted when Johan hides an evil looking knife in a drawer and Thami expresses misgivings about Johan’s controlling his temper when he has been drinking. In the second half of the play, over dinner, Johan, fueled by the wine he has been expressly forbidden to touch, and the soft-spoken Thami make their bid to Smith who expresses doubts about their proposition. In the powerful struggle that results, the play resembles David Mamet’s American Buffalo which also concerns a pursuit of an unrealistic dream.
Not only does the play become an extremely tense thriller, it ends up as an exposé of the new South Africa where both blacks and whites are now victimized.
In this character study, the men are extremely well drawn. Under Elliott’s subtle direction, the actors give full-bodied performances that lay bare the characters’ complete lives. Lansbury’s initial hearty manner gives way to the streak of violence that got him into trouble as a policeman. Savané’s Thami, a basically good man, is exploited by his own unhappy heritage, his dreams, and the manipulative Johan. Bryggman’s Smith lets his urbane exterior crack to reveal the lonely widower whose children live outside the country and his resentment over the loss of the fruits of his hard work.
All three men are revealed as casualties of the system: Smith who has been abandoned by the ruling class for whom he devoted his whole life, Johan who was caught between the ruling and underclass and the new changing rules, and Thami who is still scraping to make a living while hearing about all the new get rich quick schemes that abound in the new order.
While the realistic South African accents spoken by Lansbury and Savané are at first difficult to penetrate, they do give the production an air of authenticity. Derek McLane’s realistic guest house lounge and dining area, with a hint of the foggy coast outside the windows created by Jason Lyons’ lighting design, is quite impressive. The costumes by Eric Becker immediately define the men’s social standing. In terms of the staging, a bit too much of the play is locked around the dining room table down stage left.
Groundswell, Ian Bruce’s first play to be presented in New York, demonstrates an exceptional ability with characterization and dialogue. Although the play takes a long time to reach its goal, it is ultimately a powerful metaphor for the new South Africa, an insider’s view of a little known contemporary issue. Under Scott Elliott’s direction, Larry Bryggman, David Lansbury and Souléymane Sy Savané give taut, precise performances.
Groundswell (through June 27)
The New Group at Theatre Row’s Acorn Theatre, 410 West 42nd Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, call 212-279-4200 or http://www.thenewgroup.org
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