Review: The Blue Iris at the Fugard Theatre

A ruined farmhouse, a broken man and paintings of Karoo flowers

Athol Fugard’s latest play, The Blue Iris, is perfectly titled. Like the tiny Karoo flower whose delicate looks belie its hardiness and conceal a poison that can “kill a full-grown ox”, the play also appears to be simple and straightforward, yet reveals itself to be an intimate and piercing exploration of relationships, secrets and toxic misconceptions.  

Set in the Karoo beside the ruins of a burnt down farmhouse, the play centres on a Karoo farmer, Robert Hannay, his dead wife, Sally, and their housekeeper, Rieta Plaasman. 

After a violent thunderstorm leads to the farmhouse’s destruction and, ultimately, the untimely death of his wife, Robert is unable to leave his former home. He hears Sally’s ghost call out to him at night, and Robert feels compelled to spend his days sifting through the charred-out remains in an attempt to absolve himself of his guilt at her death, and to put his wife’s spirit to rest by trying to recover as many of her flower paintings as he can.  

Most of the play’s narrative involves the retelling of memories; however, as each character reminisces, there is a radical shift in the meaning of the event described. The underlying truth of the characters’ relationships surfaces, and it becomes surprisingly clear how little they know about one another. 

As long-buried secrets are exposed, so is unexpected hatred. Its presence is as astonishing as the hidden venom contained in the innocent-looking blue iris, a central symbol within the play that almost becomes a character in its own right.

Janice Honeyman’s direction is exacting, and the female characters ignite the stage with their opposing energies and stage presence. They form a strong counterweight to the bleakness issuing from Robert, who seems to be the very embodiment of the harsh Karoo.

This particular production is firmly anchored in the no-nonsense style of traditional theatre and theatrical conventions. Most of the action happens in the viewer’s imagination, guided by the actors’ storytelling.  

Fugard’s text draws audiences into the intimate details of these three lives, wrings them out emotionally and, after the final blackout, leaves them to contemplate the secrets concealed within their own blue irises.

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