Hello and Goodbye at the Pumphouse & University of Waikato

Like a good book, theatre should transport its audience to a different world. While Hello and Goodbye offers an insight into life in South Africa, a true sense of place is missing.

The play is written by South Africa's most prolific and internationally well-known playwright, Athol Fugard. Inspired by his own upbringing, it explores issues of identity, loneliness and family.

It is a claustrophobic two-person piece, centred on the relationship between an estranged brother and sister. Their unexpected reunion sees them re-examining their past and arguing over their inheritance.

Alison Hofer plays the tough and extroverted Hester while Mike Lowe is her more idealistic and romantic baby brother.

Hofer uses her physicality well to portray the ultimate victim turned bully, while Lowe is touching as the equally damaged Johnnie.

Unfortunately, as with many New Zealand productions, the accents are distracting and at times sound more like a singsong Welsh or Indian accent than a guttural South African tone.

This may be part in due to the poetic nature of Athol Fugard's words and the actors' tendency to garble passages.

In this family the tyrannical, but now invalid, father casts a long shadow. We never see him but are always aware of his presence, thanks to Hofer and Lowe's skill in making him come to life.

Having not seen a South African play before, I was looking forward to the experience. I would have liked this production more if it created a sense of place.

Fugard's vibrant words evoke the smells, sights and sounds of Port Elizabeth life but the lighting and set design do little to support these word pictures. The naturalistic approach creates a shabby room that could be anywhere in the world and gives us no clues as to the life of the family who live there.

A design that did more to explore the claustrophobic nature of this dysfunctional family would have been more effective.

* Hello and Goodbye is at the Pumphouse & University of Waikato; to Apr 9 (Auckland); Apr 11 to 16 (Hamilton)