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THE anticipated release in late 2010 of a movie version of Athol Fugard's "MASTER HAROLD "... and the boys promises increased scholarly examination of Fugard's original 1982 drama, a play considered by many scholars to be Fugard's finest work.2 For those who may not know the play, a summary is in order. Set in 1950 apartheid South Africa, the play takes place on a rainy afternoon in a Port Elizabeth tea room and has three characters: seventeen-year-old Hally (Harold), whose family owns the tea room, and Sam and Willie, two black men who are the family's longstanding employees. As the play begins, Willie laments his dim prospects in an upcoming dance competition. He complains that his girlfriend and dance partner Hilda won't practice with him. Sam tells Willie to treat her properly. After Hally enters, his close but patronizing relationship with Sam becomes evident. Fancying himself Sam's educator, Hally discusses with Sam certain men of magnitude whom they admire for bettering the world. The three characters reminisce, and Hally affectionately remembers when Sam built him a kite that they flew together.
A phone call from Hally's mother informs Hally that his alcoholic, crippled father wants to return home early from his present hospitalization. The frustrated Hally eventually yells at both men and hits Willie. Sam attempts to soothe Hally by describing the dancing championships. Hally becomes intrigued and begins to write an essay about the championships to fulfill a school assignment. Sam's description of the dance floor as "a world in which accidents don't happen" (45) genuinely moves Hally, who connects this hopeful image with a greater hope for a better world. The conversation is interrupted by another call from Hally's mother, who confirms that his father has come home. Hally explodes into a rant against his father; when Sam implores him to stop, Hally tells Sam and Willie his father's racist joke about "a nigger's arse" (55). He eventually spits in Sam's face, exiting the tea room ashamed but without apology. After Hally departs, Willie promises Sam that he'll apologize to Hilda, and he puts his bus fare money in the juke box so that the two men can hear a Sarah Vaughan song. They dance together as the play ends.
A deeper understanding...