PRODUCTION PHOTOS

Coming Home

by Athol Fugard

directed by Blanka Zizka

October 14, 2009 – November 15, 2009

In his latest play, master playwright Athol Fugard (My Children! My Africa!, “Master Harold”…and the boys) crafts a moving tale of a young South African woman’s never-ending hope for a better future. As a teenager, Veronika left her cherished grandfather's farm with aspirations of becoming a cabaret singer in Cape Town. Years later, she returns to her hometown with broken dreams, a painful secret, and the unflinching hope of building a new life for her young son. From “the greatest active playwright in the English-speaking world” (TIME Magazine), Coming Home is a soaring emotional experience, touching, funny, and unforgettable.

Running Time:

2 hours and 30 minutes including a 15-minute intermission

Press / News

"Playwright Athol Fugard's dramatic powers — last witnessed at the Wilma in 2007's My Children! My Africa! — prove undiminished!"

— Philadelphia City Paper

“Beautifully crafted, elegant! The play sweeps you in, as does the fluid staging by director Blanka Zizka!”

— The Philadelphia Inquirer

"The Wilma Theater opens its season with a supremely enriching production of Athol Fugard’s new play Coming Home. Featuring extraordinarily well-crafted characters, we become fully immersed in their lives, thanks in part to strong performances from the excellent cast. Director Blanka Zizka coaxes and caresses the story forward with a marvelously fluid, almost magical production that fully embraces the play’s lyricism."

— Philadelphia Weekly

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Interview with Playwright Athol Fugard

In August, Wilma Dramaturg Walter Bilderback was lucky enough to arrange a phone interview with Athol Fugard to talk about his new play, Coming Home, which opens the Wilma season. Although he is best known for his plays chronicling the pernicious effects of apartheid on his native South Africa, Fugard has remained active as a playwright: he has written at least six plays since the Wilma produced My Children! My Africa! in 2007.

Interview with Set & Costume Designer Anne Patterson plus images chronicling the design process

How did the design process begin?
I felt pretty strongly that we had to have this very, very realistic home where the action is…At the same time I feel that Fugard’s writing is so incredibly poetic that I felt that there also needed to be something in the set to reflect that.