Upstage Magazine 

Review: Exits And Entrances
by Gary Wien
May 31, 2006

(LONG BRANCH, NJ) -- Exits and Entrances is the latest in a long line of NJ Rep success stories.  The Long Branch company is presenting the New Jersey premiere of Athol Fugard's latest play until June 25th.  In a word, the play is nothing short of powerful.  Very, very powerful.The play revolves around the relationship of a budding playwright and an aging actor in South Africa in the early 1960's.  The two first meet each other during a production of Oedipus in which Andre receives raves reviews as the star and the playwright is his assistant in the dressing room.  Andre is played by Morlan Higgins and the playwright is played by William Dennis Hurley.  Both actors are wonderful and utterly believable with their South African accents. After the play's run is over, the playwright asks Andre where he's off to next? Is he going home?  The actor holds up a piece of blank paper and tells the story of a writer who said the words on this page of paper were his home.  He then mentions how people were asking him about playing King Leer and he was debating if it was time to start having "a quiet, family life". They meet up again a few years later when the playwright saw that the actor was back in town.  He heads back to the old dressing room afterwards to drop in on him and the two reminscence.The title of the play stems from the various exits and entrances taking place in the playwright's life at the moment.  His father is dying in the hospital while his first child just was born.  Exits and Entrances provides a wonderful perspective on the lives of playwrights and the actors they come in touch with through the years.  The play's use of sound is very provocative and startling even.  There are moments of pure silence and moments where the two old friends are literally shouting at one another higher and higher until you can feel the tension actually snap.That tension is generally from the changing of the guard in South African theatre.  The actor is of the old school while the playwright is one of the voices for the new generation.  When the actor tells him that he should write about his "own people" rather than about the people in the slums, the playwright screams "these ARE my people!" In one of the most telling moments of the play, a toast that never actually happens says so much.  The two members of the theatre both shared visions of changing African theatre once, but while one still holds on to that dream the other gave up long ago.  Andre's life mirrors that of the playwright's father in many ways.  When asked what his father is dying of the playwright says "he's dying of unimportance;That's a dangerous disease"; said Andre.  "Yes, it can easily kill a man." -- Spoken from one who knows.  Exits and Entrances is a powerful look at a period of time when history was being written every day.  Athol Fugard's script blends humor with drama effortlessly and the acting is spectactular.  This is a play not to be missed!