---
title: THE ISLAND
type: slide
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# THE ISLAND
devised by Athol Fugard, John Kani,
and Winston Ntshona
---
Before the show begins, please turn *off* your cell phone and all other electronic devices.
---
<!-- SCENE ONE -->
---
[The sound of the ocean]
---
[a person vocalizing]
---
[the sound of shoveling; rhythmic, musical]
---
[shrill whistle]
---
[music intensifies]
---
[shrill whistle]
---
[shoveling music]
---
[shrill whistle]
---
[shoveling music]
---
[shrill whistle]
---
[shoveling music]
---
[two short whistles]
---
[shoveling music]
---
[two short whistles]
---
[shoveling music]
[grunting]
---
[three short whistles]
---
[shoveling sound stops; music remains]
---
[shrill whistle]
[shoveling sound returns]
---
[shoveling music]
---
[shrill whistle]
---
[shoveling music]
---
[shrill whistle]
---
[shoveling music]
[groaning]
---
[shrill whistle]
---
[shoveling music]
---
[groaning, yelling]
---
[shrill whistle]
---
[shoveling music]
---
[shoveling sound fades; music remains]
---
[music changes]
---
[music stops]
---
[Winston moans with pain]
---
## WINSTON:
Hodoshe!
---
## JOHN:
Leave him, Winston.
---
Listen to me, man! If he comes now we’ll be in bigger shit.
---
## WINSTON:
I want Hodoshe. I want him now! I want to take him to the office.
---
He must read my warrant. I was sentenced to Life, brother, not bloody Death!
---
## JOHN:
Please, Winston! He made us run…
## WINSTON:
I want Hodoshe!
---
## JOHN:
He made us run. He’s happy now. Leave him.
---
Maybe he’ll let us go back to the quarry tomorrow…
---
---
## WINSTON:
(Speaking in Xhosa) Nyana we Sizwe!
---
---
[John gags]
---
## WINSTON:
It’s not too bad.
---
[John continues to gag]
---
---
## JOHN:
Hell, (Speaking in Afrikaans) ons was gemoer vandag!
---
---
News bulletin and weather forecast! Black Domination was chased by White Domination.
---
Black Domination lost its shoes and collected a few bruises.
---
Black Domination will run barefoot to the quarry tomorrow.
---
Conditions locally remain unchanged—thunderstorms with the possibility of cold showers and rain.
---
Elsewhere, fine and warm!
---
## WINSTON:
Sand! Same old sea sand I used to play with when I was young.
---
St. George’s Strand. New Year’s Day. Sand dunes. Sand castles…
---
## JOHN:
Ja, we used to go there too.
---
Last…The Christmas before they arrested me, we were down there.
---
All of us. Honeybush. My little Monde played in the sand.
---
## JOHN:
We’d given her one of those little buckets and spades for Christmas.
## WINSTON:
Ja.
---
## JOHN:
Anyway, it was Daddy’s turn today.
---
Haai, Winston, this one goes on the record.
---
‘Struesgod! I’m a man, brother. A man! But if Hodoshe had kept us at those wheelbarrows five minutes longer…!
---
There would have been a baby on the Island tonight. I nearly cried.
---
## WINSTON:
Ja.
---
## JOHN:
There was no end to it, except one of us!
---
## WINSTON:
That’s right.
---
## JOHN:
This morning when he said: ‘You two! The beach!’…I thought, Okay, so it’s my turn to empty the sea into a hole.
---
He likes that one.
---
But when he pointed to the wheelbarrows, and I saw his idea…! I laughed at first. But then I wasn’t laughing.
---
Then I hated you.
---
You looked so stupid, broer!
---
## WINSTON:
That’s what he wanted.
---
## JOHN:
It was going to last forever, man! Because of you. And for you, because of me.
---
(Speaking in Afrikaans) Moer!
(in English) He’s cleverer than I thought.
---
## WINSTON:
If he was God, he would have done it.
---
## JOHN:
What?
---
## WINSTON:
Broken us. Men get tired.
---
Hey! There’s a thought. We’re still alive because Hodoshe got tired.
---
## JOHN:
Tomorrow?
---
## WINSTON:
We’ll see.
---
## JOHN:
If he takes us back there…If I hear that wheelbarrow…of yours again, coming with another bloody load of…eternity!
---
## WINSTON:
We’ll see.
---
## JOHN:
I hated you, Winston.
---
## WINSTON:
I hated you.
---
---
## JOHN:
Where’s the lap?
---
## WINSTON:
Somewhere. Look for it.
---
## JOHN:
Hey! You had it last.
---
## WINSTON:
Haai, man! You got no wife here. Look for the rag yourself.
---
## JOHN:
Look where it is.
---
Look! Hodoshe comes in here and sees it.
‘Whose lappie is that?' Then what do you say?
---
## WINSTON:
‘It’s his rag, sir.’
---
## JOHN:
Yes? Okay. ‘It’s my rag, sir.’
When you wash, use your shirt.
---
## WINSTON:
Okay, okay! ‘It’s our rag, sir!’
---
## JOHN:
That will be the bloody day! Shit, today was long.
---
Hey, Winston, suppose the watch of the chap behind the siren is slow! We could still be there, man!
---
Hey, there.
---
## WINSTON:
What?
---
## JOHN:
With the others.
---
## WINSTON:
What’s this?
---
## JOHN:
Necklace, man. With the others.
---
## WINSTON:
Necklace?
---
## JOHN:
Antigone’s necklace.
---
## WINSTON:
Ag, shit, man! Antigone! Go to hell, man, John.
---
## JOHN:
Hey, don’t start any nonsense now. You promised. It’s nearly finished. Look.
---
Three fingers, one nail…three fingers, one nail…
Don’t start any nonsense now, Winston.
---
There’s six days to go to the concert. We’re committed.
---
We promised the chaps we’d do something.
This Antigone is just right for us.
---
Six more days and we’ll make it.
---
## WINSTON:
Jesus, John! We were down on the beach today. Hodoshe made us run. Can’t you just leave a man…?
---
## JOHN:
To hell with you! Who do you think ran with you? I’m also tired, but we can’t back out now.
---
Come on! Three fingers…
---
## WINSTON:
...one nail! Haai…haai…haai!
---
## JOHN:
Stop moaning and get on with it. Shit, Winston! What sort of progress is this?
---
Listen. Listen! Number 42 is practicing the Zulu War Dance.
---
Down there they’re rehearsing their songs. It’s just in this moer cell that there’s always an argument. Today you want to do it, tomorrow you don’t want to do it.
---
How the hell must I know what to report to the chaps tomorrow if we go back to the quarry?
---
There! Wash!
---
How can I be sure of anything when you carry on like this. We’ve still got to learn the words, the moves. Shit!
---
It could be so bloody good, man.
---
---
Nearly finished! Look at it! Three fingers…
---
## WINSTON:
...one nail.
---
## JOHN:
Ja! Simple. Do you still remember all I told you yesterday?
---
But you’ve bloody forgotten. How can I carry on like this? I can’t move on, man.
---
Over the whole bloody lot again! Who Antigone is…who Creon is…
---
## WINSTON:
Antigone is the mother to Polynices.
---
## JOHN:
Haai, haai, haai…shit, Winston! How many times must I tell you that Antigone is the sister to the two brothers. Not the mother. That’s another play.
---
## WINSTON:
Oh.
---
## JOHN:
That’s all you know! ‘Oh.’
---
Come here. This is the last time. ‘Struesgod. The last time.
---
## WINSTON:
Ag, no, John.
---
## JOHN:
Come! I’m putting this plot down for the last time! If you don’t learn it tonight. I’m going to report you to the old men tomorrow.
---
And remember, broer, those old men will make Hodoshe and his tricks look like a little boy.
---
## WINSTON:
Jesus Christ! Learn to dig for Hodoshe, learn to run for Hodoshe, and what happens when I get back to the cell? Learn to read Antigone!
---
## JOHN:
Come! And shut up!
---
If you would stop moaning, you would learn faster.
Now listen!
---
## WINSTON:
Okay, do it.
---
## JOHN:
Listen! It is the Trial of Antigone. Right?
---
## WINSTON:
So you say.
---
## JOHN:
First, the accused. Who is the accused.
---
## WINSTON:
Antigone.
---
## JOHN:
Coming from you that’s bloody progress.
---
Next the State. Who is the State?
---
## WINSTON:
Creon.
---
## JOHN:
King Creon. Creon is the State.
---
## JOHN:
Now…what did Antigone do?
---
## WINSTON:
Antigone buried her brother Eteocles.
---
## JOHN:
No, no, no! Shit, Winston, when are you going to remember this thing?
---
I told you, man, Antigone buried Polynices. The traitor! The one who I said was on our side. Right?
---
## WINSTON:
Right.
---
## JOHN:
Stage one of the Trial.
---
The State lays its charges against the Accused…and lists counts…you know the way they do it.
---
Stage two is Pleading. What does Antigone plead? Guilty or Not Guilty?
---
## WINSTON:
Not Guilty.
---
## JOHN:
Now look, Winston, we’re not going to argue.
---
Between me and you, in this cell, we know she’s Not Guilty. But in the play she pleads Guilty.
---
## WINSTON:
No, man, John! Antigone is Not Guilty…
---
## JOHN:
In the play…
---
## WINSTON:
To hell with the play! Antigone had every right to bury her brother.
---
## JOHN:
Don’t say ‘To hell with the play’. We’ve got to do the bloody thing.
---
And in the play she pleads Guilty. Get that straight. Antigone pleads…
---
## WINSTON:
Okay, do it your way.
---
## JOHN:
It’s not my way! In the play…
---
## WINSTON:
Guilty!
---
## JOHN:
Yes, Guilty!
---
## WINSTON:
Guilty.?
---
## JOHN:
Stage three, Pleading in Mitigation of Sentence.
---
Stage four, Sentence, State Summary, and something from you…Farewell Words.
---
Now learn that.
---
## WINSTON:
Hey?
---
## JOHN:
Learn that!
---
## WINSTON:
But we’ve just done it!
---
## JOHN:
I’ve just done it. Now you learn it.
---
## WINSTON:
Learn to run, learn to read…
---
## JOHN:
And don’t throw the rag there!
---
Don’t be so bloody difficult, man. We’re nearly there. You’ll be proud of this thing when we’ve done it.
---
---
Look. Winston, look! Creon’s medallion. Good, hey!
---
I’ll finish the necklace while you learn that.
---
---
Jesus, Winston! June 1965.
---
## WINSTON:
What?
---
## JOHN:
This, man. *Antigone*. In New Brighton. St. Stephen’s Hall.
---
## JOHN:
The place was packed, man! All the big people. Front row…dignitaries.
---
Shit, those were the days. Georgie was Creon. You know Georgie?
---
## WINSTON:
The teacher?
---
## JOHN:
That’s him.
---
## JOHN:
He played Creon. Should have seen him, Winston.
---
Short and fat, with big eyes, but by the time the play was finished he was as tall as the roof.
---
‘My Councilors, now that the Gods have brought our City safe through a storm of troubles to tranquility…’
---
And old Mulligan! Another shirt-arsed teacher. With a beard! He used to go up to the Queen…‘Your Majesty, prepare for grief, but do not weep.’
---
Nearly finished!
---
Nomhle played Antigone. A bastard of a lady that one, but a beautiful bitch. Can’t get her out of my mind tonight.
---
## WINSTON:
I know this.
---
## JOHN:
You sure?
---
## WINSTON:
This? …it’s here.
---
## JOHN:
You’re not bullshitting, hey?
---
## JOHN:
Right. The Trial of Antigone. Who is the Accused?
---
## WINSTON:
Antigone.
---
## JOHN:
Who is the State?
---
## WINSTON:
King Creon.
---
## JOHN:
Stage one.
---
## WINSTON:
Antigone lays charges…
---
## JOHN:
NO SHIT, MAN, WINSTON!!!
---
## WINSTON:
Okay…okay…listen, John…listen…The State lays charges against Antigone.
---
## JOHN:
Be careful!
---
## WINSTON:
The State lays charges against Antigone.
---
## JOHN:
Stage two.
---
## WINSTON:
Pleading.
---
## JOHN:
What does she plead? Guilty or Not Guilty?
---
## WINSTON:
Guilty.
---
## JOHN:
Stage three.
---
## WINSTON:
Pleading in Mitigation of Sentence.
---
## JOHN:
Stage four.
---
## WINSTON:
State Summary, Sentence, and Farewell Words.
---
## JOHN:
He’s got it! That’s my man.
---
See how easy it is, Winston? Tomorrow, just the words.
---
Hell, I hope we go back to the quarry tomorrow.
---
There’s still a lot of things we need for props and costumes. Your wig!
---
---
The boys in Number Fourteen said they’d try and smuggle me a piece of rope from the jetty.
---
## WINSTON:
Ja, I hope we’re back there. I want to try and get some tobacco through to Sipho.
---
## JOHN:
Sipho?
---
## WINSTON:
Back in solitary.
---
## JOHN:
Again!
---
## WINSTON:
Ja.
## JOHN:
Oh hell!
---
## WINSTON:
Simon passed the word.
---
## JOHN:
What was it this time?
---
## WINSTON:
Complained about the food I think. Demanded to see the book of Prison Regulations.
---
## JOHN:
Why don’t they leave him alone for a bit?
---
## WINSTON:
Because he doesn’t leave them alone.
---
## JOHN:
You’re right.
---
I’m glad I’m not in Number Twenty-two with him.
---
One man starts getting hard-arsed like that and the whole lot of you end up in the shit.
---
You know what I’m saying?
---
## WINSTON:
Ja.
---
## JOHN:
What?
---
## WINSTON:
What ‘What’?
---
## JOHN:
What am I saying?
---
## WINSTON:
Haai, Johnny, man! I’m tired now! Let a man…
---
## JOHN:
I’m saying Don’t Be Hard-Arsed! You! When Hodoshe opens that door tomorrow say ‘Ja Baas’ The right way.
---
I don’t want to be back on that bloody beach tomorrow just because you feel like being difficult.
---
## WINSTON:
Okay, man, Johnny.
---
## JOHN:
You’re not alone in this cell.
---
I’m here too.
---
## WINSTON:
Jesus, you think I don’t know that!
---
## JOHN:
People must remember their responsibilities to others.
---
## WINSTON:
I’m glad to hear you say that, because I was just going to remind you that it is your turn tonight.
---
## JOHN:
What do you mean. Wasn’t it my turn last night?
---
## WINSTON:
Haai, haai. Don’t you remember? Last night I took you to bioscope.
---
## JOHN:
Hey, but the way! So you did. Bloody good film too. ‘Fastest Gun in the West.’ Glenn Ford. [imitates gunshot noises]
---
You were bullshitting me a bit though. How the hell can Glenn Ford shoot backwards through his legs?
---
I tried to work that one out on the beach.
---
---
Operator, put me through to New Brighton, please…yes, New Brighton, Port Elizabeth.
---
The number is 414624…Yes, mine is local…local…
---
## WINSTON:
The Shop!
---
## JOHN:
That you, Scott? Hello, man! Guess who! …You got it! You bastard! Hell, shit, Scott, man…how things with you? No, still inside.
---
Give me the news, man…you don’t say! No, we don’t hear anything here…not a word…What’s that? Business is bad?
---
…You bloody undertaker! People aren’t dying fast enough! No, things are fine here…
---
## WINSTON:
Who else is there? Who’s with Scott?
---
## JOHN:
Hey, Scott, who’s there with you?
---
…Oh no! …call him to the phone, man.
---
## WINSTON:
Who’s it?
---
## JOHN:
Just for a minute, man, please, Scott…
Hello there, you beautiful bastard…how’s it man?
---
## WINSTON:
…Who the hell is it, man?
---
## JOHN:
Sky!
How’s it with Mangi? Where’s Vusi? How are the chaps keeping, Sky? Winston?
---
…All right, man.
---
He’s here next to me.
---
No, fine, man, fine, man…small accident today when he collided with Hodoshe, but nothing to moan about.
---
His right eye bruised, that’s all.
---
Hey, Winston’s asking how are the punkies doing? You bloody lover boy! Leave something for us, man!
---
Okay…okay…
---
Listen, Sky, Winston says if you get a chance, go down to Dora Street, to his wife.
---
Tell V., Winston says he’s okay, things are fine.
---
Winston says she must carry on…nothing has happened…tell her to take care of everything and everybody…Ja.
---
And look, Sky, you’re not far from Gratten Street.
---
Cross over to it, man, drop in on number thirty-eight, talk to Princess, my wife.
---
How is she keeping? Ask her for me, I haven’t received a letter for three months now.
---
Why aren’t they writing? Tell her to write, man.
---
I want to know how the children are keeping.
---
Is Monde still in school? How’s my twin baby, my Father and Mother? Is the old girl sick?
---
They mustn’t be afraid to tell me. I want to know.
---
I know it’s an effort to write, but it means a lot to us here.
---
Tell her…this was another day.
---
They’re not very different here.
---
We were down on the beach.
---
The wind was blowing.
---
The sand got in our eyes.
---
The sea was rough.
---
I couldn’t see the mainland properly.
---
Tell them that maybe tomorrow we’ll go to the quarry.
---
It’s not so bad there.
---
We’ll be with the others.
---
Tell her also…it’s starting to get cold now, but the worst is still coming.
---
---
[shrill whistle]
---
[dramatic music]
---
[shrill whistle]
---
---
[shrill whistle]
---
---
[shrill whistle]
---
---
[shrill whistle]
---
---
[shrill whistle]
---
---
[shrill whistle]
---
<!-- SCENE TWO -->
---
## WINSTON:
[laughs] Okay, okay.
---
---
## JOHN:
Okay?
---
## WINSTON:
No.
---
---
## JOHN:
Okay?
---
## WINSTON:
No.
---
---
## JOHN:
Okay?
---
## WINSTON:
No.
---
---
[Winston vocalizes]
---
---
## JOHN:
Okay?
---
---
## JOHN:
Hey Norman. Norman! Come this side, man.
---
I got it here. (Speaking in Afrikaans) Poes!
---
---
Speedy Gonzales! Here I come!
---
## WINSTON:
It’s finished I’m not doing it.
---
Take your *Antigone* and shove it up your arse!
---
## JOHN:
Wait, man. Wait…
## WINSTON:
There is nothing to wait for, my friend.
---
I’m not doing it.
---
## JOHN:
Please, Winston!
---
## WINSTON:
You can laugh as much as you like, my friend, just let’s get one thing straight, I’m not doing *Antigone*.
---
And in case you want to know why…I’m a man, not a bloody woman,
---
## JOHN:
When did I say otherwise?
---
## WINSTON:
What were you laughing at?
---
## JOHN:
I’m not laughing now.
---
## WINSTON:
What are you doing, crying?
---
There you go again, more laughing! Shit, man, you want me to go out there tomorrow night and make a bloody fool of myself.
---
You think I don’t know what will happen after that? Every time I run to the quarry… ’Nyah…nyah…Here comes Antigone…Help the poor lady! …’Well, you can go to hell with your Antigone.
---
## JOHN:
I wasn’t laughing at you.
---
## WINSTON:
Then who were you laughing at? Who else was here that dressed himself as a lady and made a bloody fool of himself.
---
## JOHN:
Okay, Winston, Okay! I’m not laughing anymore.
## WINSTON:
You can go to hell with what you’re saying.
---
## JOHN:
Look, Winston, try to understand, man…this is Theatre.
---
## WINSTON:
You call laughing at me, Theatre? Then go to hell with your Theatre!
---
## JOHN:
Please, Winston, just stop talking and listen to me.
## WINSTON:
No! You get this, brother,…I am not doing your *Antigone*! I would rather run the whole day from Hodoshe.
---
At least I know where I stand with him.
---
All he wants is to make me a ‘boy’…not a bloody woman.
---
## JOHN:
Okay, okay…
---
## WINSTON:
Nothing you can say…
## JOHN:
Will you bloody listen!
---
## WINSTON:
Okay. I’m listening.
---
## JOHN:
Sure I laughed.
---
Ja…I laughed.
---
But can I tell you why I laughed?
---
I was preparing you for…stage fright!
---
You think I don’t know what I’m doing in this cell? This is preparation for stage fright! I know those bastards out there.
---
When you get in front of them, sure they’ll laugh…’Nyah, nyah’! …They’ll laugh.
---
But just remember this, brother, nobody laughs forever!
---
There’ll come a time when they’ll stop laughing, and that will be the time when our Antigone hits them with her words.
---
## WINSTON:
You’re day-dreaming, John, Just get it into your head that I’m not doing *Antigone*. It’s as simple as that.
---
## JOHN:
Hey, Winston! Hold on there, man. We’ve only got one more day to go!
---
They’ve given us the best spot in the programme. We end the show!
---
You can’t back out now.
---
## WINSTON:
You think I can’t? Just wait and see.
---
---
## JOHN:
Winston! You want to get me into trouble? Is that what you want?
---
## WINSTON:
Okay, I won’t back out.
---
## JOHN:
That’s my man!
---
## WINSTON:
Here’s Antigone…take these titties and hair and play Antigone.
---
I’m going to play Creon.
---
Do you understand what I’m saying? Take your two titties…I’ll have my balls and play Creon.
---
## JOHN:
You won’t make it! I thought about that one, days ago.
---
It’s too late now to learn Creon’s words.
---
## WINSTON:
I hate to say it, but that is just too bad.
---
I am not doing Antigone.
---
---
## JOHN:
Look at me.
---
Now laugh.
---
[Winston laughs]
---
---
Go on.
---
Go on laughing!
---
Why did you stop? Must I tell you why? Because behind all this rubbish is me, and you know it’s me.
---
You think those bastards out there won’t know it’s you? Yes, they’ll laugh.
---
But who cares about that as long as they laugh in the beginning and listen in the end.
---
That’s all we want them to do…listen in the end!
---
## WINSTON:
I don’t care what you say, John.
---
I’m not doing Antigone.
---
## JOHN:
Winston…you’re being difficult.
---
## JOHN:
You promised…
## WINSTON:
Go to hell, man.
---
## WINSTON:
Only last night you tell me that this Antigone is a bloody…what you call it…legend! A Greek one at that.
---
Bloody thing never happened.
---
Not even history! Look, brother, I got no time for bullshit. Fuck legends.
---
Me? …I live my life here! I know why I’m here, and it’s history, not legends.
---
I had my chat with a magistrate in Cradock and now I’m here. Your *Antigone* is a child’s play, man.
---
## JOHN:
Winston! That’s Hodoshe’s talk.
---
## WINSTON:
You can go to hell on with that one too,
---
## JOHN:
Hodoshe’s talk, Winston! That’s what he says all the time.
---
What he wants us to say all our lives.
---
Our convictions, our ideals…that’s what he calls them…child’s play. Everything we fucking do is ‘child’s play’
---
…when we ran that whole day in the sun and pushed those wheelbarrows, when we cry, when we shit…child’s play!
---
Look, brother,…I’ve had enough. No one is going to stop me doing *Antigone*…
---
[shrill whistle]
---
## JOHN:
Yes, sir!
---
[shrill whistle]
---
---
## WINSTON:
There he goes. Serves him right. I just hope Hodoshe teaches him a lesson.
---
*Antigone* is important! *Antigone* this! *Antigone* that! Shit, man.
---
Nobody can sleep in this bloody cell because of all that bullshit.
---
Polynices! Eteocles! The other prisoners too. Nobody gets any peace and quiet because of that bloody Antigone.
---
I hope Hodoshe gives it to him.
---
---
(Speaking in Afrikaans) Ag, voetsek! (in English) I’m not going to do it.
---
And I’m going to tell him. When he comes back.
---
For once he must just shit that big bloody mouth of his and listen.
---
To me! I’m not going to argue, but ‘struesgod that…!
---
Shit, man! If he wants a woman in the cell he must send for his wife, and I don’t give a damn how he does it.
---
I didn’t walk with those men and burn my bloody passbook in front of that police station, and have a magistrate send me here for life
---
so that he can dress me up like a woman and make a bloody fool of me.
---
I’m going to tell him. When he walks through that door.
---
---
Listen, broer, I’m not trying to be difficult, but this *Antigone*! No! Please listen to me, John.
---
‘Struesgod I can’t do it.
---
I mean, let’s try something else, like singing or something.
---
You always got ideas. You know I can sing or dance. But not *Antigone*.
---
Please, John.
---
## JOHN:
Winston…
---
## WINSTON:
Don’t let’s argue, man.
---
We’ve been together in this cell too long now to quarrel about rubbish.
---
But you know me. If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s people laughing at me.
---
If I go out there tomorrow night and those bastards start laughing I’ll fuck up the first one I lay my hands on.
---
You saw yourself what happened in here when you started laughing.
---
I wanted to moer you, John. I’m not joking. I really wanted to…
---
Hey, are you listening to me?
---
## JOHN:
Winston…I’ve got something to tell you.
---
## WINSTON:
What’s the matter? Hodoshe? What happened? Are we in shit? Solitary?
---
## JOHN:
My appeal was heard last Wednesday.
---
Sentence reduced.
---
I’ve got three months to go.
---
## WINSTON:
Three…
---
## JOHN:
months to go.
---
## WINSTON:
Three…
---
## JOHN:
Ja.
---
That’s what Prinsloo said.
---
## WINSTON:
John!
---
Norman! Norman!!
---
John. Three months to go. Ja…Just been told…
---
## JOHN:
Winston! Not yet, man. We’ll tell them at the quarry tomorrow. Let me just live in it for a little while.
---
## WINSTON:
Okay okay…How did it happen?
---
## JOHN:
Jesus, I’m so mixed up, man! Ja…the door opened and I saw Hodoshe.
---
Ooo God, I said to myself. Trouble! Here we go again! All because of you and the noise you were making,
---
Went down the corridor straight to Number Four…Solitary and Spare Diet!
---
But at the end, instead of turning right, we turned left into the main block, all the way through it to Prinsloo’s office.
---
## WINSTON:
Prinsloo!
---
## JOHN:
I’m telling you. Prinsloo himself, man.
---
We waited outside of a little bit, then Hodoshe pushed me in.
---
Prinsloo was behind his desk, busy with some papers.
---
He pulled out one and said to me: ‘You are very lucky.
---
Your lawyers have been working on your case.
---
The sentence has been reduced from ten years, to three.'
---
## WINSTON:
What did Hodoshe say?
---
## JOHN:
Nothing.
---
But he looked unhappy.
---
Hey, something else. Hodoshe let me walk back here by myself! He didn’t follow me.
---
## WINSTON:
Of course. You are free.
---
## JOHN:
Haai, Winston, not yet. Those three months…!
---
Or suppose it’s a trick.
---
## WINSTON:
What do you mean?
---
## JOHN:
Those bastards will do anything to break you.
---
If the wheelbarrows and the quarry don’t do it, they’ll try something else.
---
Remember that last visit of wives, when they lined up all the men on the other side…'Take a good look and say goodbye! Back to the cells!'
---
## WINSTON:
You say you saw Prinsloo?
---
## JOHN:
Prinsloo himself. Bastard didn’t even stand up when I walked in.
---
And by the way…I had to sign.
---
Ja! I had to sign a form to say that I had been officially told of the result of my appeal…that I had three months to go.
---
Ja. I signed!
---
## WINSTON:
It’s three months, John.
---
## JOHN:
Hell, Winston, at the end of those three months, it will be three years together in this cell.
---
Three years ago I stood in front of that magistrate at Kirkwood—bastard didn’t even look at me:
---
‘Ten years!’ I watched ten years of my life drift away like smoke from a cigarette while he fidgeted and scratched his arse.
---
That same night back in the prison vans to the cells at Rooihel. First time we met!
---
## WINSTON:
Ja. We had just got back from our trial in Cradock.
---
## JOHN:
You, Temba,…
---
## WINSTON:
Sipho…
---
## JOHN:
Hell, man!
## WINSTON:
First time we got close to each other was the next morning in the yard, when they lined us up for the vans…
---
## JOHN:
And married us!
---
## WINSTON:
Who was that old mean…remember him?
---
…in the corner handcuffed to Sipho?
---
## JOHN:
Sipho?
---
## WINSTON:
Ja, the one who started singing.
---
## JOHN:
Peter. Tutu Peter.
## WINSTON:
That’s him!
---
## JOHN:
Hell, it comes back now, man.
---
Pulling through the big gates, wives and mothers running next to the vans, trying to say goodbye…all of us inside fighting for a last look through the window.
---
## WINSTON:
Shit!
---
## JOHN:
Bet you’ve forgotten the song the old man started.
---
[Winston sings]
---
[Winston abruptly stops singing]
---
## WINSTON:
By the time we reach Humansdorp though, nobody was singing.
---
## JOHN:
Fuck singing.
---
I wanted to piss.
---
Hey! I had my one free hand on my balls, holding on.
---
I’d made a mistake when we left the Rooihel. Drank a gallon of water thinking of those five hinder miles ahead.
---
Jesus! There was a bucket in the corner! But we were packed in so tight, remember, we couldn’t move.
---
I tried to pull you but it was no bloody good.
---
So I held on—Humansdorp, Storms River, Blaauwkrantz…held on.
---
But at Knysna, to hell with it, I let go!
---
You were also wet by then!
---
## WINSTON:
Never!
---
## JOHN:
Okay, let’s say that by George nobody was dry.
---
Remember the stop there?
---
## WINSTON:
Ja. I thought they were going to let us walk around a bit.
---
## JOHN:
Not a damn! Fill up with petrol and then on.
---
Hey, but what about those locals, the Coloured prisoners, when we pulled away.
---
Remember? Coming to their cell windows and shouting…’Courage, Brothers! Courage!’ After that…! Jesus, I was tired.
---
Didn’t we fall asleep? Standing like that?
---
## WINSTON:
What do you mean standing? It was impossible to fall.
---
## JOHN:
Then the docks, the boat…It was my first time on one.
---
I had nothing to vomit up, but my God I tried.
---
## WINSTON:
What about me?
---
## JOHN:
Then we saw this place for the first time.
---
It almost looked pretty, hey, with all the mist around it.
---
## WINSTON:
I was too sick to see anything, broer.
---
## JOHN:
Remember your words when we jumped off onto the jetty?
---
Heavy words, Winston.
---
You looked back at the mountains…’Farewell Africa!’
---
I’ve never forgotten them.
---
That was three years ago.
---
## WINSTON:
And now, for you, it’s three months to go.
---
---
## JOHN:
To hell with everything. Let’s go to bed.
---
We’ll talk about *Antigone* tomorrow.
---
Hey, Winston! I just realized. My family! Princess and the children. Do you think they’ve been told?
---
Jesus, man, maybe they’re also saying…three months! Those three months are going to feel as long as the three years.
---
Time passes slowly when you’ve got something…
---
...to wait for.
---
---
Look, in this cell, we’re going to forget those three months.
---
The whole bloody thing is most probably a trick anyway. So let’s just forget about it.
---
We run to the quarry tomorrow. Together. So let’s sleep.
---
<!-- SCENE THREE -->
---
## WINSTON:
You’re counting!
## JOHN:
What!
---
## JOHN:
Hey, Winston, you gave me a fright, man.
---
I thought you were asleep. What’s the matter? Can’t you sleep?
---
## WINSTON:
You’ve started counting the days now.
---
## JOHN:
Ja.
---
## WINSTON:
How many?
---
## JOHN:
Ninety-two.
---
## WINSTON:
You see!
---
## JOHN:
Simple, man. Look…
---
...twenty days left in this month, thirty days in June, thirty-one in July, eleven days in August…ninety-two.
---
## WINSTON:
Tomorrow?
---
## JOHN:
Ninety-one.
---
## WINSTON:
And the next day?
---
## JOHN:
Ninety.
---
## WINSTON:
Then one day it will be eighty!
---
## JOHN:
Ja!
---
## WINSTON:
Then seventy.
---
## JOHN:
Hey, Winston, time doesn’t pass so fast.
---
## WINSTON:
Then only sixty more days.
---
## JOHN:
That’s just two months here on the Island.
---
## WINSTON:
Fifty…forty days in the quarry.
---
## JOHN:
Jesus, Winston!
---
## WINSTON:
Thirty.
---
## JOHN:
One month.
---
Only one month to go.
---
## WINSTON:
Twenty…then ten…five, four, three, two…tomorrow!
---
## JOHN:
NO! Please, man, Winston It hurts.
---
Leave those three months alone.
---
I’m going to sleep!
---
## WINSTON:
They won’t keep you here for a full three months. Only two months.
---
Then down to the jetty, into a ferry-boat…you’ll say goodbye to this place…and straight to Victor Verster Prison on the mainland.
---
Life will change for you there. It will be much easier. Because you won’t take Hodoshe with you.
---
He’ll stay here with me, on the Island.
---
They’ll put you to work in the vineyards at Victor Verster, John. There are no quarries there.
---
Eating grapes, oranges…they’ll change your diet…Diet C, and exercises so that you’ll look good when they let you out finally.
---
At night you’ll play games…Ludo, draughts, snakes and ladders!
---
Then one day they’ll call you into the office, with a van waiting outside to take you back.
---
The same five hundred miles.
---
But this time they’ll let you sit. You won’t have to stand the whole way like you did coming here.
---
And there won’t be handcuffs.
---
Maybe they’ll even stop on the way so that you can have a pee.
---
Yes, I’m sure they will. You might even sleep over somewhere.
---
Then finally Port Elizabeth. Rooihel Prison again, John! That’s very near home, man. New Brighton is next door!
---
Through your cell window, you’ll see people moving up and down in the street, hear busses roaring.
---
Then one night you won’t sleep again, because you’ll be counting.
---
Not days, as you are doing now, but hours.
---
And the next morning, that beautiful morning, John, they’ll take you straight out of your cell to the Discharge Office
---
where they’ll give you a new khaki shirt, long khaki trousers, brown shoes.
---
And your belongings! I almost forgot your belongings.
---
## JOHN:
Hey, by the way! I was wearing a white shirt, black tie, grey flannel trousers…brown Crockett shoes…
---
...socks? I can’t remember my socks! A check jacket…and my watch! I was wearing my watch!
---
## WINSTON:
They’ll wrap them up in a parcel.
---
You’ll have it under your arm when they lead you to the gate.
---
And outside, John, outside that gate, New Brighton will be waiting for you.
---
Your mother, your father, Princess and the children…and when they open it…
---
## JOHN:
Stop it, Winston! Leave those three months alone for Christ’s sake. I want to sleep.
---
## WINSTON:
But it’s not finished, John!
## JOHN:
Leave me alone!
---
## WINSTON:
It doesn’t end there.
---
Your people will take you home. Thirty-eight, Gratten Street, John! Remember it?
---
Everybody will be waiting for you…aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors.
---
They’ll put you in a chair, John, like a king, give you anything you want…cakes, sweets, cool drinks…
---
...and then you’ll start to talk. You’ll tell them about this place, John, about Hodoshe, about the quarry,
---
and about your good friend Winston who you left behind.
---
But you still won’t be happy, hey. Because you’ll need a fuck. A really wild one!
---
## JOHN:
Stop it, Winston!
## WINSTON:
And that is why at ten o’clock that night you’ll slip out through the back door and make your way to Sky’s place.
---
## WINSTON:
Imagine it, man! All the boys waiting for you…Georgie, Mangi, Vusumzi. They’ll fill you up with booze.
---
They’ll look after you. They know what it’s like inside. They’ll fix you up with a woman.
---
## JOHN:
NO!
## WINSTON:
Set you up with her in a comfortable joint, and then leave you alone,
---
## WINSTON:
You’ll watch her, watch her take her clothes off, you’ll take your pants off, get near her, feel her, feel it…Ja, you’ll feel it. It will be wet…
---
## JOHN:
WINSTON!
## WINSTON:
Wet poes, John! And you’ll fuck it wild!
---
## JOHN:
Winston? What’s happening? Why are you punishing me?
---
## WINSTON:
You stink, John. You stink of beer, of company, of poes, of freedom…
---
Your freedom stinks, John and it’s driving me mad.
---
## JOHN:
No, Winston!
## WINSTON:
Yes! Don’t deny it.
---
## WINSTON:
Three months' time, at this hour, you’ll be wiping beer off your face, your hands on your balls, and poes waiting for you.
---
You will laugh, you will drink, you will fuck and forget.
---
Stop bullshitting me! We’ve got no time left for that. There’s only two months left between us.
---
You know where I ended up this morning, John? In the quarry. Next to old Harry.
---
Do you know old Harry, John?
---
## JOHN:
Yes.
## WINSTON:
Yes what? Speak, man!
---
## JOHN:
Old Harry, Cell Twenty-three, seventy years, serving Life!
---
## WINSTON:
That’s not what I’m talking about. When you go to the quarry tomorrow, take a good look at old Harry.
---
Look into his eyes, John. Look at his hands.
---
They’ve changed him. They’ve turned him into stone.
---
Watch him work with that chisel and hammer. Twenty perfect blocks of stone every day. Nobody else can do it like him.
---
He loves stone. That’s why they’re nice to him. He’s forgotten himself.
---
He’s forgotten everything… why he’s here, where he comes from.
---
That’s happening to me, John.
---
I’ve forgotten why I’m here.
---
## JOHN:
No.
## WINSTON:
Why am I here?
---
## JOHN:
You put your head on the block for others.
---
## WINSTON:
Fuck the others.
---
## JOHN:
Don’t say that ! Remember our ideals…
---
## WINSTON:
Fuck our ideals…
---
## JOHN:
No, Winston…our slogans, our children’s freedom…
## WINSTON:
Fuck slogans, fuck politics… fuck everything, John.
---
## WINSTON:
Why am I here? I’m jealous of your freedom, John.
---
I also want to count. God also gave me ten fingers, but what do I count? My life?
---
How do I count it, John?
---
One…one…another day comes…one…Help me, John!…Another day…one…one…Help me, brother…one…
---
(Speaking in Xhosa) Nyana we Sizwe! Nyana we Sizwe…
---
(in English) it’s all over now. All over. Forget me…
---
No, John! Forget me…because I’m going to forget you.
---
Yes, I will forget you.
---
Others will come in here, John, count, go, and I’ll forget them.
---
Still more will come, count like you, go like you, and I will forget them.
---
And then one day, it will all be over.
---
---
[shrill whistle]
---
[the sound of the ocean]
[music]
---
## WINSTON:
Come. They’re waiting.
---
## JOHN:
Do you know your words?
---
## WINSTON:
Yes. Come, we’ll be late for the concert.
---
<!-- SCENE FOUR -->
---
## JOHN:
Captain Prinsloo, Hodoshe, Warders,…and Gentlemen!
---
Two brothers of the House of Labdacus found themselves on opposite sides in battle,
---
the one defending the State, the other attacking it. They both died on the battlefield.
---
King Creon, Head of the State, decided that the one who had defended the State would be buried with all religious rites due to the noble dead.
---
But the other one, the traitor, Polynices, who had come back from exile intending to burn and destroy his fatherland,
---
to drink the blood of his masters, was to have no grave, no mourning. He was to lie on the open fields to rot, or at most be food for the jackals.
---
It was a law.
---
But Antigone, their sister, defied the law and buried the body of her brother Polynices. She was caught and arrested.
---
That is why tonight the Hodoshe Span, Cell Forty-two presents for your entertainment: ‘The Trial and Punishment of Antigone’.
---
[drumming noises]
---
---
[drumming resumes]
---
---
## JOHN:
My people! Creon stands before his people and greets you!
---
---
Stop! Stop! What’s that I hear? You, good man, speak up. Did I hear ‘Hail the King’?
---
My good people, I am your servant…a happy one, but still your servant.
---
How many times must I ask you, implore you to see in these symbols of office nothing more, or less, than you would in the uniform of the humblest menial in your house.
---
Creon’s crown is as simple, and I hope as clean, as the apron Nanny wears.
---
And even as Nanny smiles and is your happy servant because she sees her charge…your child! …waxing fat in that little cradle,
---
so too does Creon—your obedient servant!—stand here and smile. For what does he see?
---
Fatness and happiness!
---
How else does one measure the success of a state?
---
By the sumptuousness of the palaces built for its king and princes? The magnificence of the temples erected to its gods?
---
The achievements of its scientists and technicians who can now send rockets to the moon?
---
No! These count for nothing beside the fatness and happiness of its people.
---
But have you ever paused to ask yourself whose responsibility it is to maintain that fatness and happiness?
---
The answer is simple, is it not?
---
...your servant the king!
---
But have you then gone to ask yourself what does the king need to maintain this happy state of affairs?
---
What, other than his silly crown, are the tools with which a king fashions that happiness of his people?
---
The answer is equally simple, my good people. The law!
---
Yes. The law.
---
A three-lettered word.
---
And how many times haven’t you glibly used it never bothering to ask yourselves, ‘What then is the law?’
---
Or if you have, then making recourse to such cliches as ‘the law states this’…or ‘the law states that’.
---
The law states or maintains nothing, good people.
---
The law defends! The law is no more or less than a shield in your faithful servant’s hand to protect YOU!
---
But, even as a shield would be useless in one hand, to defend, without a sword in the other, to strike… so too the law has its edge,
---
The penalty!
---
---
We have come through difficult times.
---
I am sure it is needless for me to remind you of the constant troubles on our borders…
---
those despicable rats who would gnaw away at our fatness and happiness.
---
We have been diligent in dealing with them.
---
But unfortunately there are still at large subversive elements…
---
there are still amongst us a few rats that are not satisfied and to them I must show this face of Creon…
---
so different to the one that hails my happy people!
---
It is with a heavy heart, and you shall see why soon enough, that I must tell you that we have caught another one.
---
That is why I have assembled you here.
---
Let what follows be a living lesson for those among you misguided enough still to harbour sympathy for rats!
---
---
The shield has defended. Now the sword must strike!
---
Bring in the accused.
---
---
## JOHN:
Your name!
---
## WINSTON:
Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, sister of Eteocles and Polynices.
---
## JOHN:
You are accused that, in defiance of the law, you buried the body of the traitor Polynices.
---
## WINSTON:
I buried the body of my brother Polynices.
---
## JOHN:
Did you know there was a law forbidding that?
---
## WINSTON:
Yes.
---
## JOHN:
Yet you defied it.
---
## WINSTON:
Yes.
---
## JOHN:
Did you know the consequences of such defiance?
---
## WINSTON:
Yes.
---
## JOHN:
What did you plead to the charges laid against you? Guilty or Not Guilty?
---
---
## WINSTON:
Guilty.
---
## JOHN:
Antigone, you have pleaded guilty. Is there anything you wish to say in mitigation?
---
This is your last chance. Speak.
---
## WINSTON:
Who made the law forbidding the burial of my brother?
---
## JOHN:
The State?
---
## WINSTON:
Who is the State?
---
## JOHN:
As King I am its manifest symbol.
---
## WINSTON:
So you made the law.
---
## JOHN:
Yes, for the State.
---
## WINSTON:
Are you God?
---
## JOHN:
Watch your words, little girl!
---
## WINSTON:
You said it was my chance to speak.
---
## JOHN:
But not ridicule.
---
## WINSTON:
I’ve got no time to waste on that. Your sentence on my life hangs waiting on your lips.
---
## JOHN:
Then speak on.
---
## WINSTON:
When Polynices died in battle, all that remained was the empty husk of his body.
---
He could neither harm nor help any man again.
---
What lay on the battlefield waiting for Hodoshe to turn rotten, belonged to God.
---
You are only a man, Creon. Even as there are laws made by men, so too there are others that come from God.
---
He watches my soul for a transgression even as your spies hide in the bush at night to see who is transgressing your laws.
---
Guilty against God I will not be for any man on this earth.
---
Even without your law, Creon, and the threat of death to whoever defied it, I know I must die.
---
Because of your law and my defiance, that fate is now very near.
---
So much the better. Your threat is nothing to me, Creon.
---
But if I had let my mother’s son, a Son of the Land, lie there as food for the carrion fly, Hodoshe, my soul would never have known peace.
---
Do you understand anything of what I am saying, Creon?
---
## JOHN:
Your words reveal only that obstinacy of spirit which has brought nothing but tragedy to your people.
---
First you break the law. Now you insult the State.
---
## WINSTON:
Just because I ask you to remember that you are only a man?
---
## JOHN:
And to add insult to injury you gloat over your deeds. No, Antigone, you will not escape with impunity.
---
Were you my own child you would not escape full punishment.
---
## WINSTON:
Full punishment? Would you like to do more than just kill me?
---
## JOHN:
That is all I wish.
---
## WINSTON:
Then let us not waste any time. Stop talking. I buried my brother. That is the honourable thing, Creon.
---
All these people in your state would say so too, if fear of you and another law did not force them into silence.
---
## JOHN:
You are wrong. None of my people think the way you do.
---
## WINSTON:
Yes they do, but no one dares tell you so.
---
You will not sleep peacefully, Creon.
---
## JOHN:
You add shamelessness to your crimes, Antigone.
## WINSTON:
I do not feel any shame at having honoured my brother.
---
## JOHN:
Was he that died with him not also your brother?
---
## WINSTON:
He was.
---
## JOHN:
And so you honour the one and insult the other.
---
## WINSTON:
I shared my love, not my hate.
---
## JOHN:
Go then and share your love among the dead. I will have no rats’ law here while yet I live.
---
## WINSTON:
We are wasting time, Creon. Stop talking. Your words defeat your purpose. They are prolonging my life.
---
---
## JOHN:
You have heard all the relevant facts.
---
Needless now to call the state witnesses who would testify beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is guilty.
---
Nor, for that matter, is it in the best interests of the State to disclose their identity.
---
There was a law. The law was broken. The law stipulated its penalty.
---
My hands are tied.
---
Take her from where she stands, straight to the Island!
---
There wall her up in a cell for life, with enough food to acquit ourselves of the taint of her blood.
---
## WINSTON:
Brothers and Sisters of the Land! I go now on my last journey.
---
I must leave the light of day forever, for the Island, strange and cold, to be lost between life and death.
---
So, to my grave, my everlasting prison condemned alive to solitary death.
---
Gods of our Fathers! My Land! My Home!
Time waits no longer.
---
I go now to my living death, because I honoured those things to which honour belongs.
---
[swelling music]
---
[music ends]
---
---
[shrill whistle]
---
[the sound of the ocean]
---
---
[music swells]
---
---
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