The Train Driver
Synopsis and Overview
Sometimes referred to a ‘memory play’ it is bookended by soliloquies by Simon Hanabe, one of the two characters in the play. He has lost his job as the gravedigger and cemetery attendant at the graveyard of Shukuma, a squatter camp on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth. The play, a series of exchanges with Roelf Visagie, the second character in the play who has much the bigger role and is inclined to lengthy monologues, is the story of how and why Simon’s employment was terminated. He is black African; Roelf is white Afrikaner.
The play is dedicated to Pumla Lolwana and her three children, Lindani, Andile and Sesanda who died on the railway tracks between Philippi and Nyanga on Friday 8th December 2000. The play was first produced at the Fugard Theatre in Capetown in 2010......Read more in our printable pdf
