There is little sentimentality to be found in Athol Fugard's A Lesson From Aloes, a searing three-character drama that has been receiving rave reviews—to my mind underserved. (p. 102)

There can be no doubt that Fugard means us to be as deeply involved as he is with his characters' fates; for years he has been heroically exposing the cost of apartheid in human suffering. Yet it is not his sincerity but his art that I question; for all its deep wells of feeling, which Fugard is not afraid to tap unembarrassedly, A Lesson from Aloes is a confused and ultimately artificial drama.

Too much of the characters' behavior is ill-motivated. Why should the Special Branch's confiscation of her diaries drive Gladys to a mental hospital? How can she possibly compare the "violation" of her privacy to literal rape …? And why does Piet go into seclusion and allow his...