Hello and Goodbye

Hello and Goodbye is a 1965 play by Athol Fugard. A tightly wrought full-length play about the brother and sister Johnny and Hester, the “second-hand Smits of Valley Road, Port Elizabeth”, and their relationship with their mother and father.

Text published in 196*, and many times subsequently. Nas BIB. Published in/by Balkema; in Boesman en Lena and other plays by Oxford University Press; in South African Theatre by Haum.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into Afrikaans as Hallo en Koebaai by Schalk Jacobsz.

Translated into Afrikaans as Dagsê en Wederom by Driaan Engelbrecht.

Performance history in South Africa

1965: First produced by Phoenix Players, directed by Barney Simon and featuring Molly Seftel and Fugard, officially opening on 26 October in the Library Theatre, Johannesburg after a few multi-racial performances elsewhere.

1973: Staged by PACOFS, directed by Johan Bernard, with himself as Johnnie and Trudi du Plessis as Hester.

1974: Staged by The Company at the Blue Fox in Rosebank, Johannesburg, with plans to take it to the black townships, directed by Barney Simon, with Marius Weyers and Janice Honeyman.

1974: What must rank as the definitive production, featuring Yvonne Bryceland and Bill Flynn, was directed by Athol Fugard for the The Space (Cape Town) first presented on 26 July 1974. The stage director was Gordon Sara. This production later went on to tour Dublin, was invited as part of the opening season at London’s Riverside Studios and both of the actors were used in the SABC-TV and BBC TV productions of the play (197* and 197*, repsectively).

1976: Staged by PACOFS, directed by Johan Bernard with Marthinus Basson and Estelle de Waal.

1985: Hallo en Koebaai, the translation by Jacobsz, performed in collaboration with the Alternatiewe Toneelgeselskap on the National Arts Festival Fringe (1985), presented by KRUIK Toneel at the Nico Arena in September 1985 and at the Baxter Studio (opening 20 May 1986), directed by Esther van Ryswyk starring Shaleen Surtee-Richards and Royston Stoffels.

1995: A student production in the H.B. Thom Theatre was directed by Mark Graham and Angerie van Wyk.

Directed by Ilse van Hemert for A Million Freds Productions, late 1990s, with Jan Ellis as Johnnie and Janine Ulfane as Hester. Design by Marthinus Basson, lighting by Kobus Rossouw.

Many productions followed, including Hello & Goodbye with Nazli George as Hester and Ralph Lawson directing in April 2000; Hello & Goodbye, Langley Kirkwood, Kunstekaap, 2001. Pedro Kruger & Ralph Lawson (Directors), Presented by Tripletake Productions at the Tesson Theatre and Baxter Theatre in 2008 and at the Market Theatre from 20 July to 22 August 2010.