Theatre: Master Harold and the Boys

Mar 23, 2010 12:20 AM | By Refiloe Lepere

Self-exploration is never easy, and James Ngcobo's version of Athol Fugard's autobiographical production, Master Harold and the Boys is a gentle, unsympathetic portrayal of this kind of analysis.

The play opens with a servant Willie (Nat Ramabulana) setting up the tearoom with cakes, a jukebox, tables and chairs. He is joined by Sam ( Pakamisa Zwedala).

Even though the story is more a personal tale of Fugard's childhood, it has resonance with anyone who has experienced oppression.

Set in the 1950s, the play looks at the minute expressions of racial interaction and oppression. Father mistreats wife and son, son ill-treats the servants, servant abuses his wife, and the chain of abuse goes on.

In a simple setting, Harold Jnr, or Hally, played by Daniel Buckland, is a teenager who comes for lunch at the family-owned tea-room.

The news that Hally's invalid, alcoholic father is to be allowed home from hospital upsets him deeply. He suddenly turns on his best friends, the boys Willie and Sam.

The shock of this racist outburst shows how the political and social realities of South Africa at that time came to distort and dominate our closest relationships and, in some cases, still do.

Ramabulana, who has starred in theatre and TV productions, including Isidingo , said that when he encountered the play, he was moved by the powerful, honest and emotional tale.

"As an actor the challenge was to show the stories of these men in a respectful and real manner because they did exist and their stories were important to them," he said.

The real test for this 26-year-old was how to portray a 40-year-old and be sensitive to his weariness, and understand his personal struggle amid the world's torments.

Master Harold and the Boys is on at the Old Mutual Theatre on the Square, Nelson Mandela Square, Johannesburg. It runs until April 10.

Master Harold... And The Boys

Leon van Nierop
03/23/2010 09:22:30


Leon van Nierop: If you want to see indigenous theatre at its very best, do yourself a favour and get a ticket to this brilliant local production.

Athol Fugard's devastating three-hander takes place in the claustrophobic St George's Park tearoom in Port Elizabeth in the Fifties where two waiters and the son of the owner battle it out during a 90-minute Communion of the souls.

The upstart Harold (brilliantly played by Daniel Buckland) initially seems to blend into the conversation with deceptive ease, but seems to hide a deep resentment not only towards his parents, but also to the two workers and society which at this point in time seems too big for him to fully comprehend.

Where he starts off by chatting to them about familiar matters of the day, the conversations takes a turn for the vicious as he first belittles his bed-ridden, alcoholic father and then spats out his racial prejudice and arrogant teenage incompetence towards these two dignified men who are victims of the inhuman apartheid laws. In the process this seemingly liberal young man is exposed as the biggest bigot of them all whose words fly like bullets through the air and hit bull's eye with every turn.

Fugard's powerful words, lean narrative and forceful characterisation all blend perfectly in James Ncobo's elegant and stylish directing in which he uses the small stage and rather limited space to full effect. One feels locked up with these three men who battle it out in a war of words that leaves the audience devastated and in a state of shock. Ncobo perfectly succeeds in involving the audience fully by locking them up with these characters especially since the audience has the foreknowledge of a new millennium and its new challenges while looking back at the problems of the past.

The acting is of the highest standard with Pakamisa Zwedala and Nat Ramabulana balancing the youthful rage of a young man on the brink of self-destruction and the destructive effects of his actions on two innocent men.

This is, without a doubt, one of the major events in the theatre calendar and deserves to be seen.

Master Harold... And The Boys
With Pakamisa Zwedala, Daniel Buckland and Nat Ramabulana
Director: James Ngcobo
Venue: The Old Mutual Theatre on the Square until April 10

Athol Fugard for a new generation

Peter Feldman
03/23/2010 09:12:48


Peter Feldman: "Master Harold ... and the Boys" has resurfaced in Johannesburg after a number of years.

It has a new director, a new cast and a fresh look by director James Ngcobo at one of Athol Fugard's most celebrated works.

The last time I recall seeing this production was more than 20 years ago at the Market Theatre and it left an indelible mark because it encapsulated a South Africa of the 50s viewed through the eyes of a noted playwright who was fuelled by incidents from his own childhood.

Apartheid was still very much alive when this play was written and when I first saw it Fugard's commentary proved a stinging indictment of South Africa's apartheid policy at the time. It hit home like a sledgehammer because it reduced grand apartheid to more human terms.

This new production still retains the elements that made the original ground-breaking work and the acting is just as intense.

The world has changed certainly since the play was first premiered with the demise of apartheid, but the universal theme of brotherhood between men still exists.

James Ngcobo's production proves that the power and quiet majesty of this play has not diminished with time -even though the impact is not as compelling.

One of the shining lights of this version is Pakamisa Zwedala as Sam, the older and wiser of the two black servants working at St George's Tea Room in Port Elizabeth in 1950. He commands the stage with compassion and understanding and his interaction with Daniel Buckland's Hally is a beautifully balanced reading as the mood changes dramatically from chummy light-hearted banter between master and servant to a more menacing confrontation which places politics into its truer perspective.

Sam and his fellow worker, the more subservient Willie (Nat Ramabulana), have served Hally's mother in the tea room for years and there's a certain rapport that exists between them and the boy Hally. They behave as old friends should, knowing that certain boundaries between appropriateness and offence are there, yet still discovering a few new ones as circumstances dictate.

A brilliantly executed aspect of the play is when Hally contrives to write his school paper using ballroom dancing as a metaphor for race relations.

The production is solid and highly entertaining, yet a slightly worrying aspect is Daniel Buckland whose physical appearance as a teenager isn't convincing.

Hally is a potent character whose destructive streak manifests after he is told by his mother that his crippled and alcoholic father is about to return home from hospital - a signal for Hally to lash out at his workers.

Where the play eventually stands or falls is in the pivotal scene where a blistering exchange takes place between Hally and Sam, his surrogate father, which leaves Hally in a confused state of mind - and this is superbly executed.

As Willie, Nat Ramabulana, provided a consistent performance in what is the play's least textually showy role.

Also, Wesley France's subtle mood lighting, Thando Lobese's costumes, Gregory Maqoma's choreography and Nadya Cohen's evocative set, complete with a jukebox, all contributed towards creating a picture of a world where, unsurprisingly, nothing is simply black and white.

A new generation of theatre-goers will certainly derive benefit from watching a master storyteller at work whose use language is simple but always effective.


"Master Harold ... and the Boys" is on at the Old Mutual Theatre on the Square, Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton, until 10 April.