Theatre review: "Master Harold" ...and the Boys

Probably South Africa’s most famous playwright, Athol Fugard is known for his plays skewering Apartheid; ”Master Harold” …and the Boys is described as semi-autobiographical, which may explain some of the background to why an Afrikaner turned so violently against a system designed to keep him in privilege. The setting is a tea room in Port Elizabeth, during a rainy afternoon in 1950 – water hammers down on a skylight over Rajha Shakiry’s set, keeping any potential customers away. So in between cleaning jobs the two black staff members Sam (Lucian Msamati) and Willie (Hammed Animashaun) have plenty of time to practice their steps for an upcoming ballroom dancing competition. That is until teenager Hally (Anson Boon,) son of the tea room’s owners, comes back from school, setting up at one of the tables to do his homework.

The systemic inequality means Hally should be “Master Harold,” but it quickly becomes apparent that his relationship with the two men, who’ve worked for the family since he was a small child, is a lot closer than that.

Hally has a conflicted relationship with his disabled, alcoholic father, and has often gone to Sam and Willie for comfort and friendship. Sam, in particular, is a natural father figure, not just to Hally but also to Willie, whose tendency to pass the abuse he receives onto his girlfriend Sam is trying to curb. As they help the boy with his homework and try to explain the escapism they find in ballroom dancing, we see a lot of the history between them all and the bonds that have built up. They’re bonds that are easily tested under this power dynamic though, and when Hally gets a phone call telling him his father is coming home from hospital – sooner than expected and bound to demand round-the-clock care from his family – he lashes out in the most brutal manner available to him.

The three performances are all strong but this is Msamati’s show: ”Master Harold” …and the Boys is of course about Apartheid in particular and discrimination more generally, as well as about privilege and how easy it is for those who have it to be blinded to it. But Roy Alexander Weise’s production shows it as overwhelmingly a play about love, and Msamati shows Sam as having an almost infinite capacity for it: It’s love that makes him push Hally into a confrontation he must know could turn ugly, because it’s important to him that the boy not grow up into someone to be ashamed of. When Hally’s response is much more brutal than expected, it’s the boy’s own love for him that Sam uses to punish him, by threatening to turn their friendship into exactly the kind of master and servant relationship Hally demanded at his ugliest.

And ultimately it’s love that allows Sam to leave the story open-ended with the possibility of a reconciliation that’ll need to be hard-fought for. Fugard’s shame and fury at this version of his younger self are palpable, but given what he went on to dedicate his life to maybe Sam’s brand of tough love – tougher on himself that anyone – works. In the way it carefully crafts the three men’s relationship for the audience so that it hurts when it’s shattered, and the story threads that get picked up with harsh twists later on, ”Master Harold” …and the Boys demonstrates the playwright’s skill at constructing a piece that takes the audience on an emotional journey, while Weise and his cast add the heart that makes the evening a gut-punch.

“Master Harold” …and the Boys by Athol Fugard is booking in repertory until the 17th of December at the National Theatre’s Lyttelton.

Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Helen Murray.