Master Harold and the Boys
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Off Broadway West Theatre Company is presenting a first class production of Athol Fugard’s eloquently groundbreaking 1982 drama “Master Harold and the Boys” through November 19th. The last time I saw this classic apartheid one act drama was at the American Conservatory Theatre. This small company’s production is just as captivating as the ACT production.
The wrenching drama is set in Port Elizabeth, South Africa on a rainy day in 1950. The apartheid segregation of South Africa’s black population is firmly entrenched. The parents of seventeen year old white school boy Harold’s own a tearoom. Each day Harold stops after school to pass the time of day with two longtime family black servants Sam and Willie. They have become lifelong friends of the young man and over a period of years Harold has taught warmhearted Sam what he has learned in books.
Harold’s family life is not happy. His father is a drunken cripple and the mother is very weak. (You never see them in the 90 minute drama). Harold’s father is in the hospital and the young man hopes that he will never return home so his mother can have some peace and quiet. Harold refuge from this unhappy state of affairs is his sanctuary with the two black servants.
Everything is calm and serene during the first 50 minutes of this intriguing drama. The young boy who is much advanced intellectually for his age plays wonderful academic games with Sam. One could say they are equals in this segregated society. However the last 30 minutes become entrancing as the young liberal thinking boy receives a phone call from his mother saying that his father is being released from the hospital. The boy suddenly turns into a raging tyrant ordering Sam and Willie back to work amid intimidating insults. This leads to appalling confrontations between Harold and Sam that are disgusting and inevitable.
Director Richard Harder has flawlessly cast this deeply insightful production down to the differentiated black and white Southern African accents. LeMont Ridgell gives a superb performance as Sam. He brings a pleasant-sounding sense of order and power to the character. 28 year old Adam Simpson nails the 17 year old Hallie with an impulsive mix of intellectual arrogance, sympathetic naiveté and aimlessness of a teen ager well beyond his years. Both of these two splendid actors make for an exciting night of theatre. Rounding out this superb cast is Anthony Rollins- Mullens as Willie. He wonderfully underplays his role as the “none too bright” servant who is more interested in ballroom dancing then leaving the ways of the world. It is a very convincing performance.
Bert van Aalsburg has designed a very detailed set of a tea room with an 80’s juke box dominating the small intimate stage. Sound designer Sam Saunders has added realistic thunder to show the impending confrontation between Hallie and Sam. Master Harold and the Boys runs through November 19 at the Phoenix Theatre, Suite 601, between Geary and Post in San Francisco. For tickets call 800-838-3006 or on line at www.offbroadwaywest.org . Regretfully this will the company’s last production. Next season they will be doing only play readings.