“Master Harold”...and the boys

By Athol Fugard

Directed by K. Todd Freeman

A selection for the Steppenwolf’s Theater for Young Adults

At Steppenwolf Theatre’s Main Stage

Saturdays & Sundays at 11 AM

Running time: 1 hrs, 26 min with no intermission

Through October 30, 2005

“The truth?

I seem to be the only one around here who is prepared to face it. We’ve had the pretty dream, it’s time now to wake up and have a good long look at the way things really are.”

---Hally, “Master Harold” ...and the boys

Fugard’s scathing indictment of apartheid speaks to injustices.

K.Todd Freeman’s directorial debut is the emotional potent story of a white teenage boy and his only two friends, Sam and Willie, adult black employees of the family restaurant. “Master Harold” ...and the boys was written in 1982 as both a coming-of-age drama and an attack on racism. This is a wrenching story about an impossible friendship in South Africa in 1950.

We meet Sam (Cedric Young) and Willie (Kenn E. Head), waiters in a tea shop in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. The two are discussing the upcoming ballroom dance contest as Sam both kids Willie about his dance technique and his choice of partners.  Enter Harold, aka “Hally” (Nick Ferrin) the 17 year old son of the owners. We learn that Hally, Sam and Willie are affectionately connected since Hally was a child.

When Hally learns that his father is coming home from the hospital, Hally denies that possibility. Hally plunges into his home work with Sam commenting and learning what Hally is learning like they have been doing for years. We realize Sam and Willie were friends, companions and confidants of the boy. The boy taught the adults yet the white boy was the master and the black adults were servants. These reminisce demonstrated the warmth and love among the three.

When Hally became disturbed by the phone calls announcing his father was leaving the hospital he would vent his anger by ordering Sam and Willie to “get to work.” Then he would cool down and his fond memory of how Sam built a kite and taught the boy how to fly it. The discussion turned to ballroom dancing and Hally thought that would make for an interesting topic for his school essay. Fugard uses the metaphor of ballroom dancing for a world in which apartheid has forces and people bumping into each other like dancers on the ballroom floor.

When yet another phone call has Hally’s father at home, he can’t hold back his rage at his drunken invalid father. He again takes it frustration out on the only two people he has any control over—Sam and Willie. Hally’s rage is full of racist jokes, insulting and condescending personal insults and humiliating orders toward Willie and, most of all, Sam. The more Sam tries to council the boy, the more Hally’s deep seeded racism emerges. Hally crosses the line and the relationship is forever changed. Fugard makes a dramatically powerful statement that every relationship and memory is affected by political and social attitudes in which it exists.

Nick Ferrin, as Hally, has the boyish charm, the excellent white South African/British accent and the intense emotional range to make Hally both likeable and a product of his time. Kenn E. Head is solid as Willie and Cedric Young was outstanding as the charismatic Sam. We feel his warmth, wit and genuine friendliness toward the boy and we also feel his pain and humiliation when Hally berates him. Young and Ferrin’s interaction is so real that we their pain.

Fugard’s play puts a face on apartheid and suggests that weakness and need to control others is at the source of racism. He shows us that once trapped in that scenario, few realize that change is possible. Hally doesn’t realize the consequences of his behavior toward Sam and Willie.

This is a moving work that every teen should see as a reminder about injustice. Kudos to Steppenwolf for selecting this important play for the Young Adults program. Take you teens to see this marvelous play. It’ll reach them, guaranteed.

Recommended

Tom Williams

Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments

Chicago Stage Talk Radio Show

This show eligible for a C.S.T. Equity Theatre Award

October 15, 2005