Regional

Valley Song

 (McCarter Theater, Protection, N.J.; 1,075 seats; $32 top)

By ROBERT L. DANIELS

A McCarter Theater presentation, in association with the Manhattan Theater Club, of a play in one act written and directed by Athol Fugard.
 
Cast: Atnol Fugard (Author/Abraam Jonkers), Lisa Gay Hamilton (Veronica Jonkers).
 

Athol Fugard proves again that he is the theater's man for all seasons. His new play finds him as a perceptive and sensitive director, an amusing, folksy lyricist and an actor of commanding presence and authority who essays two roles in a three-character play. Most of all, he is a prolific playwright of prophecy and poetry, a grand storyteller who weaves tales of his people and the ever-changing world of South Africa.

"Valley Song" finds him first as a white landowner and farmer clutching a handful of pumpkin seeds and declaring an abiding affection for the soil of the Earth and its reproductive strength. With the simple placement of a knit skull cap, Fugard becomes a feisty, proud and weathered "colored" tenant farmer, deeply protective of the grand-daughter he has raised, nurtured and taught with his late wife, through childhood and into adolescence.

The playwright, post-apartheid, focuses upon people rather than politics. The old come to terms with the past, and those who are coming of age harbor desperate longings for a glamorous life far away from the rugged life on a small farm.

The 17-year-old Veronica (Lisa Gay Hamilton) has "used up all her mischief," and is looking for romance and adventure. On tip-toc, she eavesdrops through the wealthy landowner's window to watch TV, and longs to be a singer. "No hymns and school songs" for her. She yearns to travel to the big city like her late mother, whose loss has left her grandfather bitter and remorseful, lamenting the loss of "all the sweetness in the world."

Fugard's play is eloquent and visionary in its simplicity. The language is lyrical and it glows with a triumphant human spirit. Hamilton is radiant as the spunky teenager. The playwright sees "a new song coming out of her," and the energy and dancing grace of the actress is exquisitely attuned to the texture of the narrative.

A minimalist set design of a few crates and canvas drops serves to keep the focus on the actors and the beauty of the text. The play will transfer in December to the Manhattan Theater Club.

Associate director, set and costumes, Susan Hilferty; lighting, Demmis Parichy; original songs, Didi Kricl; dialects, K.C. Ligon; production stage manager, Sanda Lee Carlson. Artistic director, Emily Mann; managing director, Jeffrey Woodward. Opened Oct. 24, 1995. Reviewed Oct. 27. Running time: 1 HOUR, 35 MIN.