Review: Blood Knot

By Anne Siegel, TotalTheater.com

Family relationships can be a knotty business, if one considers the rivalries, tiffs, childhood pranks and taunts that can leave lasting scars even into adulthood. Add race into the mix and you have Blood Knot, Athol Fugard’s 2012 play about South African life under apartheid.

This two-hander consists of two brothers, born of the same mother but with different fathers. As a result, one of the grown brothers (Morris) is light enough to pass for white – which he does for a while before appearing on his brother’s doorstep. The other brother (Zach) has dark skin, which forces him to subsist on the meager wages he earns from his menial job as a gatekeeper. The play takes place near Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

Morris lives in the shadows. He cannot (or will not) risk the questioning looks and attention that others may give a light-skinned man in this non-white part of town. So he often chooses to go out late at night, even to do the necessary grocery shopping. While Zach is at his mundane job, Morris stays home to cook and clean for them both.

Upon Zach’s return each evening, Morris goes into a calculated routine whereby he first washes Zach’s aching feet, and then feeds him supper. Before bed, Morris recites some Bible verses to Zach. Morris is the only one who can read and write.

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