Athol Fugard's plays about the knife-edge life of blacks and coloreds in South Africa furnish some of the strongest and most moving stage literature being written in the English language.

"The Island," "Boesman and Lena," and "Sizwe Banzi" bob their human cockleshells just upstream from a giant whirlpool. The jaunty resilience of their characters has a tragic significance in the face of the racial and social rigors that will crush them.

These works are masterpieces, but Mr. Fugard, like any playwright, had to learn his trade…. ["Nongogo"] has some interest, but the main part of that may lie in the demonstration that a large talent can stumble quite a lot before it finds its way.

"Nongogo" … has found its theme: fearsome surroundings breed hope, and then destroy it. But the play is awkward and thin. It is unable to communicate very much about its characters, or make them...