From its first productions, critics praised Boesman & Lena for its powerful insights into the affects of apartheid as well as the human condition. Of the original Off-Broadway production, Harold Clurman in the Nation wrote, "Surely Boesman & Lena could not have been written by anyone who was not wholly immersed in the tortured realm of apartheid. Yet it is something more than a black play. It is about a man and woman, husband and wife, on a path of life beset by constant adversity." Stanley Kauffmann of the New Republic saw the deeper elements at work. "The play's epic quality derives from the wide and simple arch of its compass: shelter, food, fire, children, quarrels, dependence, ego needs, death, endless pilgrimage. The rubbish that this pair gathers is the detritus of experience."

Many critics saw deep meaning in Lena and Boesman, and how the play draws unexpected...