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My Children! My Africa! couldn't be timelier, opening as it did on the inauguration day when one of its children became President of the United States.

But South African playwright Athol Fugard wrote about an earlier time, 1985, as the older victims of Apartheid fought from within while their children took to the streets. Fugard, one of the world's wordiest playwrights, makes a case for both in this thoughtful and profound--but also entertaining and suspenseful--work.

Ironically, the action begins with a debate about women's rights. Mr. M (L. Peter Callender), a dedicated teacher, has invited members of a white girls' school to challenge his all-black boy students. We meet only two: Isabel (Laura Morache), an English girl whose family has lived in Africa for three generations, and Thami (Lloyd Roberson II), who is Mr. M's prize pupil.

Isabel, sensitive and as open to new ideas as a sponge, wins the debate and becomes friends with both Mr. M and Thami. As she becomes aware of how she treats family servants as children and her growing knowledge of the blacks who live in the housing on "the Location," she becomes part of the change that is happening in the country.

Thami chooses another path. In spite of his love of school, the boy enthusiastically recalls being 10 years old and dancing his way to class; he feels he is wasting his time in a classroom that's been created by the government to keep the blacks down.

Isabel and Thami are to be partners in an English literature competition and if they win--which they will surely, according to Mr. M--they will bring glory and books to the school and a scholarship to university for Thami. As they prepare, with Mr. M's mentoring, this odd couple becomes closer, even as the political situation drives them apart.

This trio takes turns with monologues that tell us everything we need to know. L. Peter Callender's Mr. M dynamically communicates the rage that exists beneath his controlled teacher. "Seven animals," he says, threaten to tear my heart out of my chest." But Callendar is also delightful to watch as he jumps and stomps in an African dance of pure joy.

The friendship that develops between black teacher and white schoolgirl is the heart of My Children! My Africa! Isabel is mercurial and fun to watch, youthful and opinionated. Fierce in her loyalties, she can be a pain, especially to Thami. Morache clearly brings forth all the frustration of the young girl as she struggles with personal change. Thami's change involves others, his comrades on the street; he has to choose between the personal and the political. Roberson vividly lets us know that the choice is more than any young man should have to bear.

Director Josh Costello keeps the action moving even when a single actor is reflecting on his thoughts. Scenes of conflict in which Costello and his actors keep raising the stakes follow these static moments. He allows room for the three to interact and often brings Isabel or Thami's debate downstage to the audience.

Sound design by Ted Crimy features freedom songs of South Africa. (You can hear more of these on Feb. 9 as the Yukani Mawethu Choir and the Fua Dia Congo Company at the Words + Music series at MTC.)

Set designer Eric Sinkkonen's rough-boarded and open classroom has a feeling that we associate with Athol Fugard, who has taught us everything we know about Africa--and its children.

==I Runs through Feb. 8 at the Marin Theatre Company, 397 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley (415 388-5208) www.marintheatre.org.==

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