Act 1 Summary

Boesman and Lena has only three characters: Boesman, Lena, and Outa, an old African. The stage remains empty until Boesman lumbers in, burdened with belongings such as an old mattress and blanket, a blackened paraffin tin, an apple box, a few cooking utensils and a few articles of clothing. He also drags a piece of corrugated iron in one hand. He is barefoot and wears shapeless grey trousers rolled up to his knees, an old shirt, a faded blazer and a cap on his head. He looks around the barren area and drops his bundles, himself falling to the ground.

Almost immediately, Lena appears, burdened much the same as Boesman, but without a mattress. She has a load of firewood under her arm, but she carries the rest of her bundle rigidly on her head. She, too, is barefoot and clothed in a...