Director Samantha Van Der Merwe
Samantha was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa.
She received her Licentiate in Speech and Drama Teaching
through
Trinity College of London's worldwide examination board. After traveling
around the globe, she decided to settle in Portland, Oregon.
Samantha currently runs
Shaking The Tree Theatre Company, where she teaches drama and art to
young children, directs plays for the company's 8-11 year old theatre troupe
and also directs one adult play a year. Her recent directing credits include
Salome by Oscar Wilde, The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde, and
The Raspberry Worm from Z. Topelius. Her favorite acting roles include
Pola from Dream of a Common Language and Varina from Run Perfectly Still.
"I am drawn to The Road To Mecca for many reasons;
one being that this is the only Fugard play that explores the
complexities of women's relationships. Despite no black
character ever appearing on stage, the work challenges and
confronts both the immediate issue of apartheid, and the
deeper question of racism in all its forms.
"It also asks the question: How does one gain artistic
freedom in a rigid society? The choice of the artist to
stay true to himself or herself, no matter what society
expects of them, has always been a very interesting subject to
me. For me, Mecca represents one's artistic freedom,
the right to be whom and what you are. Miss Helen finds herself
in a battle for that right in her small Afrikaner community.
The candles she lights every night, illuminate her innate
creativity by reflecting off her shining art forms but can
she hold on to the light or will she draw the drapes and
let the darkness creep in? "
About The Author
Athol Fugard was born in Middelburg, South Africa in 1932. His full name is
Harold Athol Lanigan Fugard. He is a playwright, actor, and director.
Although his mother tongue is English, he describes himself as an Afrikaner
writing in English. After some acting experience he started writing plays,
almost always set in South Africa and steeped in the politics of the day
(apartheid and now post-apartheid). Widely acclaimed, his plays include
Boesman and Lena (1969), Sizwe Bansi Is Dead (1972), A Lesson from
Aloes (1978), the semi autobiographical work Master Harold … and the Boys
(1982), The Road to Mecca (1984), Playland (1993), Valley Song
(1995), and The Captain's Tiger (1998). Fugard has written one novel,
Tsotsi (1980). His plays have been regularly premiered in fringe
theatres in South Africa, London (The
Royal Court Theatre) and New York.
Find more work by Athol Fugard at
Director Samantha Van Der Merwe
The Road To Mecca's character "Miss Helen" is based on a real South African resident
named Helen Martins. She was born in December 1897 and grew up in
Nieu-Bethesda as the youngest of six children. Helen returned to Nieu-Bethesda
in the nineteen-thirties, after a short-lived marriage,
to care for her ailing and elderly parents. It was some time after her parents
died, somewhere in her late forties or early fifties, that "Miss Helen", as she
became known, was began to transform her surroundings.
