Finding identity and meaning in the face of despair: Athol Fugard's Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act

Abstract

In Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (first performed in 1972), Athol Fugard portrays the dilemma of human existence when an iniquitous state system and insular society impose restrictions on individual thought and freedom. Fugard’s dramatis personae show themselves not to be defeated by their predicament, but overcome devastating conditions and emerge as the designers of their own destinies when they establish social connections with others and make the choice to interpret their experiential world differently. Although other authors have depicted the plight of human beings surrounded by an all-encompassing, eternal futility, who, through self-awareness and courage, re-establish their humanity, make sense of their existences and discover their identity and potential, the existentialist theme of courage, perseverance and dignity in the face of despair has not been fully explored in a study of Fugard’s Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act. The drama will be critically analysed in terms of the concepts of choice and change in relation to time, and the creation of identity and meaning in the face of a degrading and dehumanizing social milieu, in particular South Africa’s previous political system of racial qualification and categorization.