19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Life: "None of us knows the steps, and no music's playing", December 15, 2004
This review is from: Master Harold . . . And The Boys (Penguin Plays) (Paperback)
Set in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, in 1950, this powerful three-character play considers the interwoven relationships of young Harold (Hally), the seventeen-year-old son of the white proprietor of a tea room, and two of the African men who have worked there for years. Hally, unable to depend on his alcoholic father, now living in an institution, has always depended on Sam, the waiter, for guidance and knowledge about the real world. They share a long history in which Sam has been very much a father substitute for Hally, who has always shown him respect.
Willie, the custodian, who also looks to Sam for guidance, plans to participate, along with Sam, in a ballroom dancing competition in two weeks. For them, dancing "is beautiful because that is what we want life [in South Africa] to be like." In real life, however, "none of us knows the steps...we're bumping into each other all the time." As the play progresses, the three men reminisce, talk about their ideas of what constitutes a great hero, and show their easy relationship with each other.
A phone call announcing that Hally's father is being released from the hospital upsets the equilibrium, however. Hally, morose and worried about the future, fears that his father will once again destroy his world. Taking out his anger on Sam and Willie, he tears at their dreams regarding the dancing contest, mocking their goals and becoming cynical about what the contest means to them. As his frustration grows, Hally hurts them as he has been hurt by his father, demanding ultimately that both men call him "Master Harold."
Based on an incident in the life of the playwright, who was strongly opposed to the policies of apartheid which began in South Africa around 1948, this powerful and poignant drama casts Sam, a black man, as a person of vision and nobility. Hally, a young white man, chooses to exert power, instead of being human, and shows that he is a lesser man than either Sam or Willie. Less a political drama than a human one, the play rises above its immediate setting to consider universal feelings and human relationships. Mary Whipple
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
South African litterate beauty, June 26, 1997
By A Customer
This review is from: Master Harold . . . And The Boys (Penguin Plays) (Paperback)
Words and the imagination of the reader are quintessentials of modern drama. Never since Shakespeare do you find such fine and eloquent use of words and language as in Athol Fugard's "Master Harold and the boys." Speech is powerful and has never more been so than in this play
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Emotional, Insightful and Emphatic!, July 23, 2001
This review is from: Master Harold . . . And The Boys (Penguin Plays) (Paperback)
The book is simply excellent. The way author has described the events of a whole day and the way he has highlighted the life of Harry and the South African Culture is heart touching. To do all this in one-sixty pages looks impossible, but Fugard has done this! Racial discrimination is not something new, its very easy to be a racist but it is very painful to be a victim of racism. The book shows the life of a Black servent who spent his entire life taking care of a white boy who was always neglected by his parents and especially by his father. The story moves fast and many characters come and go but basically only three characters dominate the entire play. The black servent in the end recieves recist attitude from that boy and the play takes an emotional turn. The love of the servent was answered by hatred and that led to pain and agony. From the ball room dancing to the school subjects, from the discussions concerning greatest reformers to the kite flying, from love to hatred, from joy to pain... this book has everything that could possibly happen in a day. Stunning and heart touching it makes us realize that one must never be a racist... and before doing any type of discrimination think about the same thing being done to you... and the book surely shows that "A man is like a mirror, you get back what you show it" Thus to get love, learn to love others and treat everyone equal! The book is a must to read, short and insightful!
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