About the Play:

The Train Driver is a full-length drama by Athol Fugard. Based on a shocking and true story of a mother who with her three children committed suicide on the train tracks in Cape Town, The Train Driver is an emotional exploration of the legacy of apartheid. This two-hander is about the train's traumatized engineer tormented by the nightmare that has shattered his life until he is awakened by an extraordinary stranger. The Train Driver is a mesmerizing, transforming and deeply personal journey into the human soul.

The Train Driver is a beautiful and haunting play of redemptive power. Roelf, a train driver, has spent weeks searching for the identities of a mother and child he unintentionally killed with his train. After a fruitless journey through shanty towns, he encounters an old gravedigger named Simon who helps the desperate man unburden his conscience. Based on a true story, The Train Driver is a soulful exploration of guilt, suffering, and the powerful bonds that grow between strangers.

The Train Driver premiered in 2010 during the opening season of The Fugard Theatre, Cape Town, before being re-staged at Hampstead Theatre in London. The US premiere was also in 2010 to rave reviews at the Fountain Theatre in East Hollywood, an intimate venue well-known for its award-winning plays.

Cast: 2 male

What people say:

"A deceptively simple but devastating critique of post-apartheid South Africa ... Brave, confrontational and tender ... Essential theatre viewing." — Sunday Times (South Africa)

"Four stars! Fugard shows that potent, engaged theater is not yet six feet under." — Time Out New York

"Riveting drama…." — Newsday

"Moving! Fugard writes with compassion and insight." — The New York Times

"A dramatic, moving theater experience written for South Africa.... It will save us from hopelessness. See it." — Sunday Independent (South Africa)

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.