Fando y Lis

Fando y Lis is a one-act Spanish play by Fernando Arrabal (1932-)[1]

Also known as Fando et Lis (French), Fando and Lis (English) and Fando en Lis (Afrikaans).

The original text

An absurdist work written at a time when Arrabal was working with Alejandro Jodorowsky on performance art. It tells of Fando and his paraplegic girlfriend Lis and their journey through a barren, postapocalyptic wasteland in search of the mythical city of Tar, where one will know the true nature of eternity, and reach enlightenment.[2]

The text Published by Julliard, Paris in 1958.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into English as Fando and Lis by Barbara Wright (Calder and Boyars, 1962).

Translated from the French into Afrikaans as Fando en Lis by M.M. Walters.

In 1968 it was made into an international film, with script and direction by Alejandro Jodorowsky[3]. Shot in high-contrast black-and-white, it was first shown at the Acapulco Film Festival in 1968. In 1971 the film was shown in English as Tar Babies in London.

Performance history in South Africa

1971: Performed in Afrikaans by CAPAB in February in the Hofmeyr Theatre with Trudi du Plessis, Johan Malherbe, Pieter Joubert, David Haynes, Paul Slabolepszy. Directed by Pieter Fourie (in his debut as director) as a lunch-hour production. Also performed was Die Twee Laksmanne(Arrabal). Decor by Pieter de Swardt.

1974: Performed in Afrikaans by PACT at the Arena Theatre, directed by Pieter Fourie with a cast that included Denis Bettesworth, Reza de Wet, Errol Ross, Tobie Cronjé, Lindsay Reardon, and Nigel Vermaas. The play was suspended in early June after Errol Ross (as "Fando") was injured.

Sources

Wikipedia [4].

Fando en Lis programme (1971 production).

Review written by Michael Venables, The Rand Daily Mail 15 May 1974.

Two copies of the Afrikaans text found in the Stellenbosch Drama Department's theatre archives and now held in the ESAT repository at the Africa Open Institute for Music, Research and Innovation, with offices at Pieter Okkers House, 7 Joubert Street, Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Go to ESAT Bibliography