MASTER HAROLD … AND THE BOYS. Directed by Greg Karvellas. With Kai Luke Brummer, Desmond Dube and Siya Mayola. Set Design and Lighting Design: Wolf Britz. Costume Design: Widaad Albertus. Photographs: Claude Barnardo. Fugard Theatre.
KAREN RUTTER reviews
I’ve seen several versions of Master Harold … And The Boys over the years, both on stage and on screen, and its visceral effect is felt every time. While the dramatic climax provides a gut punch, its beginning and middle produces a slow burn, an inexorable churning grind to a painful end. It’s not easy theatre, never has been, never will be. Nearly forty years since it was written, Master Harold … And The Boys remains as distressing as ever.
Perhaps because it is supposedly one of playwright Athol Fugard’s most personal plays – it’s very similar to a period of his boyhood, and what he did and didn’t do – the work is also surprisingly vulnerable, exposing bleak truths and uncomfortable attitudes. Ultimately, there is no win at the end, just a world of hurt.
A fine cast
This production features a fine cast, all three of whom are up for their respective roles. Desmond Dube takes on the fatherly role of Sam, Siya Mayola plays his entertaining sidekick Willie, and Kai Luke Brummer is schoolboy Hally. The action takes place one rainy afternoon in the tearoom owned by Hally’s parents, where Sam and Willie are employed. It is the 1950s, it is East London, and it is during apartheid.
While Sam and Willie dream of success at the annual ballroom dancing championships in New Brighton, Hally pretends to do his homework while waxing lyrical about his boy’s world view of school, teachers, Napoleon, God and more. The older men – notably Sam- indulge his whims, while challenging some of his ideas. It’s all light-hearted but for Hally’s cruel, pervasive undertone of privilege and superiority, and Sam and Willie’s indulgent responses. He is the boss’s child, after all. They are the servants.
The afternoon gives way to reminiscing, all three recalling how Hally has always, since he was a child, sought out the company of Sam and Willie, inviting himself into their quarters, getting them to play with him. It is as this history unfolds, along with a few strategic phone calls, that we come to realise that all is not happy in Hally’s life. He is deeply ashamed of his crippled, drunken father – yet cannot admit that Sam, a black servant, has actually been more of a parent to him then anybody else.
Yet another really good interpretation of a Fugard classic
The script is raw, Hally’s petulance and arrogance balanced by Sam and Willie’s ingratiating responses. It is only at the end that this muted suppression gives way to anger. But it is, perhaps, too late.
Brummer plays his part almost too well – he is unlikeable and self-important, as fits a white boy growing up believing in his superiority during apartheid. Dube is an assured, confident Sam, whose essential humanity wins out; while Mayola is a sweet joker who only just manages to suppress his rage when pushed.
The set is similar to most I have seen for this play, and suits its purpose, and the direction by Greg Karvellas is not to be faulted. This version of Master Harold … And the Boys is yet another really great interpretation of a Fugard classic, and deserves good audiences.
I was curious, I must admit, to hear the responses of the audience on the night when I saw it. A good section was made up of a school outing, with both boys and girls, both black and white. And I wondered what they made of it all. Did they see themselves, or their parents or family, in any of the parts? Or did they think it was history, and all over with? Did they relate what they saw on stage to what they experienced in life? Does Master Harold … And the Boys still hold relevance, so many years later, and with so many challenges still facing South Africa?
I know what I think, but I would have loved to hear a new generation’s thoughts.
What: Master Harold … And The Boys
Where and when: Fugard Studio Theatre until 21 March 2020
Tickets: 021 461 4554 or www.thefugard.com
WS
