Drama in Scenic Downtown Burbank
Ξ November 12th, 2007 | → | ∇ Beyond Northeast |
As much as I love the Northeast, it can’t be a completely self sustained universe. So, part of the enjoyment of living here is the access to nearby areas of interest. Burbank is not the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a cultural hotbed (though perhaps I should as it’s responsible for most of the major studio film and television programming pumped around the world). Still, I was fortunate enough to sit in on an excellent performance of Athol Fugard’s ‘Master Harold’…and the Boys at the Colony Theatre.
Fugard, was born to Dutch immigrants in South Africa in 1932. ‘Master Harold’…and the Boys is a Spartan study in the effects that apartheid era racism has on all living under it. Without getting to bogged down in plot specifics, the play occurs in one long act during a rainy afternoon in the St. George’s Park Tea Room. Hally, a white son of the tea room’s owners who Fugard based on himself, is barely passing his classes, dreading his alcoholic father’s return from the hospital, and seeking solace in his longtime friends and black employees, Sam and Willie. We meet no other characters throughout the play, though the father’s imminent return home and three phonecalls regarding this cast a spectre over Hally’s afternoon. Still, one white dilettante scholar and two subservient black men create enough tension to make audience member’s squirm in their seats and gasp at the climax.
Best about this performance is the superb acting by Michael Shepperd (as Sam) and Michael Tauzin (as Hally) who perform a South African accent so well that I forgot I was watching a play for much of the performance. (The Fourth Wall is sturdy and unbreakable!) All this and third row tickets were under $40. Check it out soon though as it’s run ends soon.
