Setting

Boesman & Lena is a drama set in contemporary South Africa. Specifically the action takes place in the Swartkops mudflats outside of the city of Port Elizabeth. Only owning possessions that they can carry with them, the characters are exposed to the elements. In order to survive in such a homeless state, Boesman builds a shelter out of scrap iron and other found materials. Yet once it is built, only he enters the shelter. Lena tends the fire and sits outside of it for the duration of the play. These desperate, temporary circumstances emphasize Boesman and Lena's precarious place in the world, but even they seem to have it better than the old man, Outa, who wanders in from the flats with nothing but the clothes he wears.

Language and Dialogue

In the standard English translation of Boesman & Lena, Afrikaan phrases pepper the text. (Afrikaan is South Africa's official...