Master Harold and the boys

From £55.20
Available from£55.20

Watch the sad story of Master Harold and the boys live on stage

Athol Fugard’s Master Harold and the boys made its premiere at the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1982, becoming an evergreen Broadway classic in no time. It played at the Lyceum Theatre in the same year. Since the story holds a strong element of symbolism about the South African apartheid regime, the country had initially banned it. The show depicts a boy’s evolution from an innocent teenager to a hateful racist, and it is heart-breaking.

Athol Fugard’s play might just be a reflection of his own life

Fugard taught the art of acting and writing plays as an adjunct professor at UC San Diego. He was an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Many have described the play as an expression of Fugard’s own guilt and self-loathing. Just like Hally, the writer was also called Harold, had a disabled father and a mother who owned a tea shop.

Watch Hammed Animashaun and Lucian Msamati put up a touching performance, as they offer you an image of the condition of black servants in 1950s South Africa.

A growing turmoil between Hally, Sam and Willie

Set in South Africa, Master Harold and the boys is a moving drama that dips you in the relationship between a young white boy named Hally and his two middle-aged black servants, Sam and Willie. Willie has always been a loyal servant, who refuses to address Hally by no other term but ‘Master Harold’. Sam, on the other hand, is just as loyal and sees a child in his master who needs guidance. These two people are the closest thing to a family Hally has.

The show starts with a recount of a certain rainy afternoon when Hally was spending time with Sam and Willie. Hally comes back from school to find the two trying out their ballroom steps for a competition that’s coming up. They talk about schoolwork and historical personalities when Sam reveals that Hally’s mother is at the hospital. She has gone there to bring his father who is getting discharged. The news immediately ruins Hally’s mood, upsetting and angering him. His father is a disabled, alcoholic man who has been nothing but an embarrassment to him and his mother. He often makes Hally perform humiliating work. An angry Hally turns into Master Harold, a racist boy who sees himself as superior to his servants. As Sam and Willie make attempts to console him, he unleashes his fury on them, hurling racist remarks and abusing both of them. Undoubtedly, they are hurt and yet, Sam tries to harmonise with the boy he has helped raise. But, is that all?

How is Hally going to be now? Will they possibly be able to pull themselves together? What will happen to their friendship? Find out by watching this noteworthy theatre play that depicts the then world. Master Harold and the boys carry a worldly message that anybody would easily understand.