The Train Driver

by Athol Fugard

In December 2000, Pumla Lolwana pulled her three children close to her body and stepped in front of a train on the railway tracks between Philippi and Nyanga on the Cape Flats, South Africa.

This true story demanded Athol Fugard's attention and compelled him to write The Train Driver; a beautiful and haunting play of redemptive power.

The Train Driver received its UK premiere at Hampstead Theatre, London, in November 2010.

'Brave, confrontational and tender . . . Essential theatre viewing.' Sunday Times, South Africa

Genres: Plays, Theatre

54 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 2010

About the author

Athol Fugard was a South African playwright, novelist, actor, and director widely regarded as South Africa's greatest playwright. Acclaimed in 1985 as "the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world" by Time, he published more than thirty plays. He was best known for his political and penetrating plays opposing the system of apartheid, some of which have been adapted to film. His novel Tsotsi was adapted as a film of the same name, which won an Academy Award in 2005. It was directed by Gavin Hood.
Fugard also served as an adjunct professor of playwriting, acting and directing in the Department of Theatre and Dance at the University of California, San Diego.
Fugard received many awards, honours, and honorary degrees, including the Order of Ikhamanga in Silver from the government of South Africa in 2005 "for his excellent contribution and achievements in the theatre". He was also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Fugard was honoured in Cape Town with the opening in 2010 of the Fugard Theatre in District Six. He received a Tony Award for lifetime achievement in 2011.

Reviews

[Mahi - ماهی · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was one of those stories that will hunt you down
Untill one day
A sunny afternoon
In a beatiful summer
It finds you and
You bend down choking for air
Because hopelessness has its cold hands wrapped around your throat.

[Hossein Mashali]

.با ترجمه و نشر شخصی مهرداد بهراد

[Osmita Gandhi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a haunting story of a train driver and his emotional journey after he runs over a young black mother ans child who has stepped in front of his train in a bid to commit suicide. The look in her eyes moments before her end haunts him and his sense of guilt takes him on a journey to the graveyard where she was buried by the grave digger. The play has 2 main characters the engine driver and his perfect alter ego the grave digger. In just about 40 pages the author has created a powerful story of the plight of the society post apartheid in South Africa. It can be a story that belongs to any poverty and I equality stricken society. A news article of a suicide of a mother on train tracks apparently inspired the story. However thr author chose to tell thr story from the engine drivers perspective which is eye opening and moving. There are many deep layers in the short play. Would highly recommend if you wish to dive deep into human psyche and read a commentary on the resilience of people living in destitution.

[jayms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished this play in one sitting, such a captivating piece that perfectly highlights the effects of guilt on a person, and the closure of said guilt. Such a great introduction to Athol Fugard’s work, excited to read more of his work!!!

[Simon Levy · Rating 5 out of 5]

one of his best

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illuminating, beautifully tender