Boesman & Lena (Plot Summary)

Plot Summary

Act I

Boesman & Lena opens with Boesman, a colored man, finding a spot to make camp in the Swartkops mudflats outside of Port Elizabeth, South Africa. He is heavily burdened, carrying all his possessions as well as a piece of iron with which to make a shelter. Tired, he drops his load. A few moments later, his woman Lena, who is also colored, enters. She carries all her possessions in a bundle on top of her head and a load of firewood in her arms. She walks past Boesman, realizes her mistake, and comes back. She asks him if they are going to stop here, and through his silence, she realizes that they are. She drops her baggage and looks around. Lena knows this place, and asks

Boesman why they have walked so fast to get here. She continues to address him, though his only response is stare at her with animosity. Through her dialogue, it is revealed that their previous home, a shanty, was destroyed by white people bulldozing the area, forcing them to leave.

Boesman finally speaks and threatens to leave her next time they walk. They argue, and Lena acknowledges that they are opposites: when she wants to cry, he wants to laugh. Boesman accuses her of looking back as they walked because she was trying to find a dog that had been following the couple. Lena says that Boesman did not know where he was going. When they rested earlier in the day, Lena says she counted her bruises, the result of Boesman beating her, as some white children watched her. She says she asked them if their mother needed a servant, but they didn’t want her. Boesman says he did not want her either.

Lena tells Boesman that she wants him to talk to her, but he says that he does not have anything to say to her. He starts to unpack their belongings and build their shelter. Lena tries to figure out the last time they lived in this location, and Boesman does not help her. Lena then tries to figure out the many other places they have been, attempting to catalog the places in correct chronological order. When she believes she has succeeded, she is happy. Boesman sees her happiness and is certain she has broken into their wine supply. He goes back to building the shelter, while trying to make Lena believe she has got the order wrong. Lena gets frustrated, and threatens Boesman, telling him that someday something will happen to him. Boesman counters by trying to make Lena doubt her own name.

Lena continues to try to reconstruct their past, while Boesman says the only thing that matters is today. Lena threatens to leave and takes a few steps away from the camp. She sees someone out walking on the mudflats, and Boesman comes to look. Lena waves the person over, much to Boesman’s disgust. He does not want anyone to join them. The stranger is a “kaffer,” an African man. When they try to figure out who he is, the man, who comes to be called “Outa,” can only reply in Xhosa, a language neither Lena nor Boesman can understand. Lena makes the old man sit by the fire and tries to communicate with him. She grows frustrated because he can only speak Xhosa. Boesman threatens to hit her when she tries to go for a bottle of wine. Lena tells Outa that he is a witness to Boesman’s abuse of her. She shows the old man the bruises on her arms that she received from Boesman when she dropped the sack of empty bottles that were to be returned for money. Boesman beat her, accusing her of breaking three of the bottles.

Boesman goes in search of more metal scraps and other materials for their shelter. Lena again grows frustrated with the old man’s incomprehension, but finally gets him to understand that her name is Lena. With this breakthrough, Lena gives him water and tells him her about her life: her dog, the incident with the bottles, their walking, and their children (all but one born dead and that one only lived six months). He responds to her in his own language throughout, then tries to leave. Lena makes him stay, then Boesman returns. He is suspicious again, and watches them carefully as he continues to make the shelter.

Lena starts to make supper, asking Boesman if their bread can be cut into three pieces to share. Boesman says no, and Lena promises to share her portion with the old man. Lena seems happy, and Boesman insists the old man must go. Lena barters with Boesman foregoing her wine for the old man’s presence. Lena wants the old man to sleep with them in the shelter, but Boesman refuses to allow it. Lena decides to sleep outside with the old man wrapped in a blanket. This upsets Boesman, and he shoves the old man when Lena goes in search of firewood. Lena returns and shares her bread and tea with the old man while Boesman does not eat or drink at all.

Act II

An hour later, Boesman is on the second bottle of wine while Lena and the Old Man are huddled under the blanket. Boesman is drunk and taunts Lena and the old man. He goes on to verbally torture Lena for trying to save things and crying while the bulldozers destroyed their home. He says that the experience liberated him, made him free, and he thought about going somewhere else. But his feelings of freedom were short-lived, when he says he realized that they were the whiteman’s rubbish. Boesman does not understand why Lena traded a bottle of wine for the old man’s company. Lena says it is because he sees where her life has lead: to this place at this time. As Boesman goes into the shelter for the night, he tells her that she cannot join him.

Lena starts talking to the old man again, telling him about dances they used to do. After she demonstrates some steps and sings bits of several songs, she huddles under the blanket again with him. Boesman watches them from the shelter and tells Lena that he is the one who dropped the empty bottles. Lena asks him why he hurt her and what she has done to deserve his bad treatment. Boesman strikes her several times, and Lena finally says that he should hit himself. When he says it does not hurt, she asks him if hitting her hurts him. Boesman says she is there and he hears her.

Lena shakes the old man to get him to stay awake, but he does not respond. Lena begs Boesman to say that he hit her for nothing, but he will not, nor will he hit her when she begs him to. Lena loses her composure and wonders what she has done aloud. Lena sits next to the old man and realizes that he has just died. Lena wants Boesman’s help in putting him down, but Boesman refuses and decides to go to sleep instead. He goes into the shelter, then comes out and tells Lena to get rid of the dead man. Lena tells him to go back to sleep, but Boesman is agitated by the old man’s continued presence. He worries that there will be trouble in the morning when people find out about the dead man.

Boesman gets so upset that he almost hits Lena, but she says that he has to be careful because there is already one body present. She taunts him further, suggesting the old man might not really be dead. Boesman checks the status of the old man by kicking him. Lena eggs him on, and Boesman kicks and beats the old man’s body. Lena says she now knows what it looks like to be beaten and that the bruises he has caused will be suspicious. Boesman panics and starts packing up their things to leave. Lena refuses to help. She does not want to leave. Boesman smashes their shelter, and tries to carry everything on his body. She turns away from Boesman and goes to the old man’s body to say goodbye. Lena returns to Boesman and takes up her share of their belongings. Boesman tells her the real order of the places they have been. She tells Boesman to walk slowly and that the next time he hits her, he should hit her hard enough to kill.