Current Production of Master Harold at the Studio Theater, Washington, D.C
Athol Fugard is South Africa's most famous playwright and Master Harold his most famous play. Fugard's plays have had successful runs on both the London and New York stage. A 1982 production at the Yale Repertory Theater starred Danny Glover as Willie and in the 1984 San Francisco run James Earl Jones played Sam. Early in his career Fugard tried to write the "great South African novel," but became discouraged and frustrated. When he turned to writing plays, however, he found his artistic voice. Most of his dramas have just a few characters --- almost always of different or "mixed" races and his subject matter is always "South Africa." While Master Harold takes place very specifically in the St. George's Park Tea Room in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the play succeeds in addressing the question of "race" in a universal context.
The time of the play is the late 1950's - early 1960's. At this time the government of South Africa officially subscribed to a racial policy called apartheid. Blacks and Whites were completely separated and black South Africans needed documentation to enter and work in white-only designated areas. To be fair, in the southern United States at this time many public facilities like toilets and drinking fountains designated for use by blacks only were labelled "colored," and restaurants and hotels were completely segragated. In 1961 Rosa Parks refused to sit in the back of the bus and thus the American Civil Rights Movement was born. In the northern U.S. many urban school districts were racially segregated -- a situation which eventually led to the "busing" of students from one school to another. South Africa's Civil Rights revolution did not begin until the 80's. Nelson Mandella was the movement's spiritual leader. Apartheid.
South Africa was first colonized by the Dutch in the late 19th Century. The discovery of diamonds and other riches brought the British and these two European heavy-weights fought over the country for decades in what was called the Boer War from 1899 to 1902. In February 1902 the world famous Boer leader, General Piet Cronje, who had practiced guerrilla war against the British, surrendered his citizen army of 5000 brave soldiers to Lord Roberts' overwhelming force at the Modder River in the Orange Free State. By the start of WWI the British and Dutch had thoroughly colonized the native African population.
Fugard's play is highly autobiographical. He is the young Hally. His father was a jazz musician and an alcoholic; to make ends meet his mother ran a boarding house and a tea room where the adolescent Fugard became friends with one of the black waiters.
Enjoy the show!