About the Play:

My Children! My Africa! has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues.

My Children! My Africa! is a full-length drama by Athol Fugard. The great South African playwright confronts the tragedy of apartheid in his native land in this compelling tale about the efforts of a humble and humane black teacher in a segregated township to persuade just one young person that education, not violence, is the answer to South Africa's problems.

My Children! My Africa! examines the power of learning and the potency of words, ideas and hope in a time of heightened political and social unrest. Beloved teacher Mr. M prepares Thami Mbikwana, a black boy, and Isabel Dyson, a white girl, to compete together in an academic competition. But right outside the window, the anti-apartheid movement starts to transform their country. These three soon find that their classroom is not immune from the conflict which accompanies overturning the old order. Thami and Isabel's educations are inexorably intertwined with the nation's politics. Mr. M attempts to persuade his students that education, not violence, is the answer to South Africa's problems, but as the competition draws nearer, it becomes clear that the nation's future depends entirely on how the younger generation chooses to act.

My Children! My Africa! premiered in 1989 at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg while South Africa was still under apartheid.

Cast: 1 female, 2 male

What people say:

"A document of towering stature." — Philadelphia Inquirer

"The drama vacillates superbly between political parable and personal tragedy." — Village Voice

About the Playwright:

Athol Fugard (1932-2025) was an internationally acclaimed South African playwright whose work deals with the political and social upheaval of the apartheid system in South Africa. In a career that spanned 70 years, he wrote more than 30 plays that are regularly performed in theatres in South Africa, Great Britain, the United States and around the world. Several of his plays have been adapted for the screen and his novel Tsotsi was made into a film that won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. In 2011 he received a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre, while Time magazine described him in the 1985 as the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world.