Blood Knot

In Athol Fugard’s Blood Knot, two half-brothers—one dark-skinned, one fair—navigate apartheid in South Africa. The play takes a microcosmic approach, examining family dynamics as a mirror to the broader social climate. But Fugard’s script is an immensely challenging one: The 1961 play is metaphorical, next-to-plotless and interrupted by surrealism. Under focused direction, a production can develop an internal logic, but this staging by Kevin Jones at Profile Theatre feels bloated. As the darker-skinned brother, Don Kenneth Mason is fine, but Ben Newman gives a one-note performance as his fairer-skinned sibling. They spend the entirety of the play—close to three hours—in a one-room shack, a space just as claustrophobic for the audience as for the characters. Profile’s Fugard-only season has impressed so far, but its production of his breakout work—which so inflamed the apartheid government that his passport was revoked—lands with a thud.

Where: Theater! Theatre!
Phone: 242-0080
Address: 3430 SE Belmont St.
Website: https://profiletheatre.secure.force.com/ticket#details_a0Sd0000001V0vuEAC