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BAM 2015 Winter/Spring Season#AHumanBeingDiedThatNightBrooklyn Academy of MusicAlan H. Fishman,Chairman of the BoardWilliam I. Campbell,Vice Chairman of the BoardAdam E. Max,Vice Chairman of the BoardKaren Brooks Hopkins,PresidentJoseph V. Melillo,Executive ProducerA HumanBeing DiedThat NightThe Fugard Theatre andEric AbrahamBy Nicholas Wright, based on thebook by Pumla Gobodo-MadikizelaDirected by Jonathan MunbyBAM Fishman SpaceMay 29 & 30, Jun 2—6, 9—13, 16—20 atSeason Sponsor:7:30pm; May 30, Jun 6, 13 & 20 at 2pm;May 31, Jun 7, 14 & 21 at 3pmRunning time: one hour and 20 minutes, no intermissionBAM 2015 Theater SponsorLeadership support provided bySteven & Susan FelsherMajor support for theater at BAM provided by:The Gladys Krieble Delmas FoundationThe Francena T. Harrison Foundation TrustStephanie & Timothy IngrassiaDonald R. Mullen Jr.The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.The Morris and Alma Schapiro FundThe Shubert Foundation, Inc.The SHS FoundationCASTPumla Gobodo-Madikizela Noma DumezweniEugene de Kock Matthew MarshPrison Guard Motell FosterDesign by Paul WillsLighting design by Tim MitchellSound design by Christopher ShuttStage manager Julia SliengerAssociate director Greg KarvellasAmerican stage manager R. Michael Blanco

A Human Being Died That NightNoma DumezweniMatthew MarshMotell FosterJonathan MunbyEric AbrahamPaul WillsTim MitchellChristopher Shutt

A Human Being Died That NightINTRODUCTIONI came across Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela’s fine book by chance in a bookshop in London’s CharingCross Road. I’m always on the lookout for books about my country’s past, its slow transformation andits future. When I read it, I quickly realized that its insights apply not only to South Africa but also toany society that has gone through the trauma of repressive violence.The first insight is that one can understand the roots and the causes of violence without excusing itin any way. Another is that if a society is to move on, perpetrators of violence need to repent, andthat they and their victims need to achieve some degree of reconciliation. These needs exist whereverone looks. I thought not only of South African death and torture squads, but of similar state-licensedperpetrators in Central and South American dictatorships, in the Middle East, and in Guantanamo andAbu Ghraib.At once I wanted to write a play based on the book. The more that people have a window into theseissues the better, I thought. And I had a hunch that the intensity of Pumla’s meetings with Eugene deKock would make compelling drama. Besides, as a playwright, I loved the theatrical challenge of aphysical situation so confined that one of the characters can’t even move from his seat.The book’s publisher, Eric Abraham, who is also a producer of plays and such films as the Oscarwinning Kolya (1996) and Ida (2015), commissioned me to adapt the book. I went to Cape Townto meet Pumla. I trailed her for a week or so, pestered her with questions, listened as she counseledother black academics, watched as she wielded her great capacity for empathy and admired her calmanalyses at a conference for victims of state violence. The broken or mutilated bodies of some of thewitnesses were powerful reminders of the still very recent past. Their optimism was an inspiration.Pumla and I flew to Johannesburg in the hope of visiting de Kock in Pretoria Central Prison but weretold, in a last minute call, that he would receive no visitors. However, Pumla has visited him morerecently to discuss the play and she has described to me his continuing engagement with the processof reconciliation. And when the play toured from the Fugard Theatre to the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, Matthew Marsh and Noma Dumezweni travelled to the prison to have the extraordinaryexperience of meeting the man whom they were playing and confronting onstage.In January of this year, the South African Justice minister announced that announced that de Kockhad been granted parole.The words that de Kock speaks in my play are drawn partly from Pumla’s book, partly from recordingsshe made of her interviews with him and partly from the records of Truth and Reconciliation hearings.Inevitably, some of the dialogue is my invention. It was a strange joy for me, after many years ofwriting for English audiences, to recapture the Afrikaans rhythms that I learned and spoke as a SouthAfrican schoolboy. This was one of the ways in which Eugene de Kock, “Prime Evil,” became a realperson to me, in all his complexities and contradictions. I hope he will to you too.—Nicholas Wright, London, 2015

Photo: Noma Dumezweni & Matthew Marsh by Jesse Kramer

Who’s WhoNOMA DUMEZWENI (Dr. Pumla GobodoMadikizela) is an Olivier Award-winning actressof South African descent who was born inSwaziland and grew up in the UK. Her richhistory includes a lengthy tenure with the RoyalShakespeare Company which began with a rolein their 1999 production of Macbeth, followedby, among others, Antony and Cleopatra, MuchAdo about Nothing, Breakfast with Mugabe, andThe Winter’s Tale. Her theater works also includePresident of an Empty Room and The Hour WeKnew Nothing of Each Other at the NationalTheatre; Feast, A Raisin in the Sun for the YoungVic at the Lyric Hammersmith (for which shewon an Olivier Award for best performance ina supporting role); The Master and Margarita,Nathan the Wise, and The Coffee House atChichester Festival Theatre; Six Characters inSearch of an Author at the Gielgud; The BogusWoman at the Traverse and the Bush, and Belong at the Royal Court Theatre. Her performancein The Bogus Woman earned her a Fringe FirstAward and a Manchester Evening News Award.She recently finished a run at London’s AlmeidaTheatre working on Simon Stephens’ mostrecent piece, Carmen Disruption, directed byMichael Longhurst. Numerous film and televisionappearances include Frankie, Casualty, DoctorWho, Eastenders, New Tricks, Shameless, AfterThomas, The Color of Magic, Dirty Pretty Things,The Incident, The Marriage of Reason, andSqualor.MATTHEW MARSH (Eugene de Kock) is anEnglish actor whose work in film includesUnlocked, The Iron Lady, Reindeer in the Mist,Endgame, The Special Relationship, Red Tails,An American Haunting, Land of the Blind, OJerusalem, Bad Company, Miranda, Quicksand,and Spy Game. His recent television appearances include Capital, Arthur and George, Da Vinci’sDemons (season 2), Hidden, Luther, The TurningPoint, Law and Order (UK), The Philanthropist,How Not to Live Your Life, Spooks, Lewis, MarieLloyd, The Commander, Return of the DancingMaster, Hawking, Belonging, The Street, andWall of Silence. Recent theater includes A Human Being Died That Night (Hampstead, SouthAfrica); Proof (Menier Chocolate Factory); TheLast of the Haussmans (National Theatre); HisGreatness (Finborough Theatre); Bingo, A PrayerFor My Daughter (The Young Vic), No NaughtyBits, Us and Them (Hampstead Theatre); Bloodand Gifts, The Overwhelming (National Theatre);Now or Later (Royal Court); The Shawl (ArcolaTheatre); This Isn’t Romance (Soho Theatre);Glengarry Glen Ross (West End); The LightningPlay, The Goat, Conversations After a Burial(Almeida Theatre); The Exonerated (RiversideStudios); A Buyer’s Market (Bush Theatre), TheLittle Foxes (Donmar Warehouse); and Copenhagen (National Theatre, West End).MOTELL FOSTER (prison guard), from Talladega, AL, just finished his first year at NYU’sgraduate acting program. He is excited to havethe opportunity to work with and learn fromthe grounded artists in this production, his firstin New York. He was an undergraduate at theUniversity of Alabama.JONATHAN MUNBY (director) has directed AHuman Being Died That Night for HampsteadTheatre and the Fugard Theatre South Africa.His recent productions include The Merchant ofVenice at Shakespeare’s Globe, starring Jonathan Pryce; All the Angels at the WanamakerPlayhouse at the Globe; and Twelfth Night forSheffield Theatres and English Touring Theatre.His other international credits include JuliusCaesar for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre,Measure for Measure and The Dog in theManger for Shakespeare Theatre Company,Washington, DC, for which he was nominatedfor the Outstanding Director Helen HayesAward, Romeo & Juliet (Tokyo/Osaka); TheRecommendation (Old Globe, San Diego),The Winter’s Tale (Guthrie, Minneapolis), andNoises Off (Washington, DC). In the UK Munbyis creative associate of the English TouringTheatre. His credits include Antony & Cleopatra(Shakespeare’s Globe), A Midsummer Night’sDream (Shakespeare’s Globe); Wendy and PeterPan, The Canterbury Tales, Madness in Valencia(RSC); Thérèse Raquin (Bath); Company, ANumber, The Comedy of Errors, A Bird Calls(Sheffield); The Prince of Homburg, Life Is aDream (Donmar Warehouse); ’Tis Pity She’sA Whore (West Yorkshire Playhouse); SeriousMoney, She Stoops to Conquer (Birmingham