Master Harold and the boys
3.4 (7) · Contemporary Drama, Classic Drama
1950. Apartheid South Africa.
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Overview
St George's Park Tea Room, Port Elizabeth, 1950. On a long rainy afternoon, employees Sam and Willie practice their steps for the finals of the ballroom dancing championship.
Hally arrives from school to hide out in his parents’ tea room. These two men have been unlikely best friends to Hally his whole life. But it is apartheid era South Africa: he’s Master Harold, and they are the boys.
Tony Award-winning playwright Athol Fugard’s semi-autobiographical and blistering masterwork explores the nature of friendship, and the ways people are capable of hurting even those they love.
Critic reviews
A slow-burn initially, but it ignites with an overpowering power that is shattering
Athol Fugard’s masterly apartheid drama still shocks
Athol Fugard’s play about apartheid from 1982 is wordy, but still packs a powerful ending
Weise’s exemplary production draws out that tragedy
The piece is sharp on memory and storytelling, what is buried and what is excavated, and how a twist can change perceptions of a story
Athol Fugard's 1982 self-exorcism is searingly revived
A spellbinding affirmation of the need for humanity at the bleakest moments
A powerful revival of Athol Fugard’s play featuring a star turn from Lucian Msamati
Lucian Msamati powers this elegantly powerful revival of Athol Fugard's apartheid-era drama
Passionate revival is an indictment of racism in the none-too-distant past
Its message about the corrosive effects of racism on human relationships feels as searing and urgent as it did when it was first performed
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