Master Harold tickets on sale now for the Lyttelton Theatre run!
The award-winning play Master Harold and the boys (stylised ‘Master Harold’ ...and the boys) has been officially revived for the National Theatre, where it is now showing in the venue’s Lyttelton auditorium. Written in 1982 by South African playwright Athol Fugard, Master Harold is a politically-charged, thought-provoking piece that dared to oppose the then-controversial apartheid, a cruel segregation system in South Africa from 1948 to the early 1990s that was akin to authoritarianism and deeply rooted in white supremacy. Backed by a fleet of five-star reviews and multiple major theatre awards, Master Harold play tickets are subject to incredibly high demand!
Master Harold and the boys summary
Master Harold is set in 1950 in the apartheid era of South Africa. The story of Master Harold begins in St. George’s Park Tea Room in Port Elizabeth on a lazy, rainy afternoon. A ballroom dance competition is being held and the tea room employees Willie and Sam are practising for the championship finals. Soon Hally walks into the tea room after school to get away. Willie and Sam have been Hally’s best friends and father figures, which is rather unusual given that the country is highly segregated. But alas, Hally is “Master Harold” and Willie and Sam are simply just the boys...
Master Harold and the boys is the semi-autobiographical work by Tony Award-winning playwright Athol Fugard. It is an exploration of an unlikely friendship amidst a dark era in history when people harmed even those closest to them. Having won both a Tony Award in 1982 for Best Featured Actor in a Play (Zakes Mokae) and a 1983 London Evening Standard Award for Best Play, Master Harold and the boys is back on the London stage after all these years and at a time when the Brexit divide grows ever so deep. Don’t miss the National Theatre production of Master Harold, which is taking audiences by storm and features a bittersweet ending that may very well bring tears to your eyes.
Master Harold cast for National Theatre run
The three-strong cast of Master Harold and the boys at the National Theatre stars Hammed Animashaun (Barber Shop Chronicles) as Willie, Lucian Msamati (Amadeus) as Sam, and Anson Boon as Hally, the white student who shifts from being an innocent and accepting child into a venomous bigot. You will be blown away by the Master Harold characters who have been vividly painted by the play’s writer Fugard in rejection of the unjust and unrightful segregation of the time. The show’s themes will leave you wondering whether there can be a world without interracial collisions and culture clash.
Hammed Animashaun’s other notable stage credits include The Threepenny Opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Producers, A Monster Calls (The Old Vic), and The Importance of Being Earnest. His TV credits include Black Mirror, Like!, Breeders, Wizard Sleeve, and Flowers whilst notable film credits of his include Surge, How To Build a Girl, and Twenty8k.
Lucian Msamati’s stage credits include Clybourne Park in the West End, Othello and Pericles for the RSC, The Comedy of Errors and Death and the King’s Horseman for the National Theatre, and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He has appeared on TV in Gangs of London, Black Earth Rising, Dr Who, Heads and Tales, and Death in Paradise, just to name a few. His film credits include Dr Juju, The Good Liar, and The Good Liar.
Anson Boon makes his professional stage debut in Master Harold and the boys and has appeared on TV in All at Sea, The Alienist, Endeavour, Living the Dream, Shadowplay, and The Feed. His film credits include Mad Bob, Sulphur White, The Winter Lake, 1917, and Crawl.
Master Harold London creative team
Master Harold by Athol Fugard is directed by Roy Alexander Weise (Nine Night) and features set and costume design by Rajha Shakiry, lighting design by Paule Constable, sound design by Giles Thomas, movement direction and choreography by Shelley Maxwell, company voice work by Simon Money, dialect coaching by Joel Trill, and staff direction by Anthony Simpson Pike.
Master Harold was the first play by Athol Fugard to receive its world premiere outside of South Africa, where it was also banned from production when the play was first released. The 1985 Master Harold film adaptation was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg and starred Matthew Broderick (The Starry Messenger) as the titular character opposite Zakes Mokae and John Kani. The play was once again filmed in 2009 and released a year later. The 2010 Master Harold and the boys movie starred Freddie Highmore (Finding Neverland, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and Ving Rhames (Mission Impossible 1-3, Pulp Fiction).
Master Harold and the boys tickets for the limited run at London’s Lyttelton Theatre available now!
The Master Harold National Theatre production, now showing at the Lyttelton Theatre in London, is one of the biggest Off-West End theatre productions of the season and an absolute must-see for Black History Month UK 2019. Don’t miss this tragic and heartwarming work by award-winning playwright Athol Fugard that is guaranteed to be a smash at the box office. Book tickets for the rarely-staged Master Harold and the boys now to secure the best seats in the house whilst stocks last, or you may just live to regret it