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www.samuelfrench.com
by Athol Fugard
Suggested by the life and work of
Helen Martins of New Bethesda
samuelfrench.com
ISBN
978-0-573-66018-4
Printed
in
U.S.A.
#20101
FORS.H.
The soul selects her own societyThen-shuts the doorOn her divine majority Present no more.
-Emily Dickinson
A NOTE
ON
MISS HELEN
ATHOL FUGARD
It was a drive into the Karoo to spend a holiday on a
friend's farm and the route I drove that took me for the
first time through what had only been a name on a map
until then: New Bethesda, a small village in what turned
out to be an absolutely magnificent setting. As I drove
through it, I couldn't help responding to it, because I was
actually born in that part of the world- as a matter of
fact, I was born fifteen miles away from New Bethesda in
a place called Middelburg. Driving to my friend's farm I
was struck by its isolation and thought to myself, hell,
this would be quite a nice place to have a bouse to escape
from the city if ever I felt like getting away from the
world. I mentioned this to my friend, who said, " Well,
you know, the houses are dirt-cheap in New Bethesda
because there has been a move from the rural areas into
the cities. You could pick up a house there very
cheaply." So on the way back to Port Elizabeth, I stopped
and looked around, and I discovered there were houses
for sale very, very cheaply.
I returned three months later with the express purpose
of buying a house, which I still own. In the course of
looking at various houses and getting to know a few of
the locals, reference was made to a rather strange character who lived in the village. Her name was Helen Martins
and the people were kind ofapologetic about her because
they regarded her as a little crazy. They said that her
craziness took the form of rather silly statues and sculpture that she made and had all around her house. I ob-
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CAST
(In order of apfHIZTatt)
Marius Byleveld .... .... ..... ... ...... . . . . ..... ATHOL FUGARD
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CHARACTERS
MISS HELEN
ELSA BARLOW
MARIUS BYLEVELD
TIME: Autumn 1974.
PLACE: The home ofMiss Helen in a small village in the
Great Karoo, a semi-desert region in the center ofSouth
Africa.
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