Master
Harold ...and the Boys
My latest
discovery is the Southwark Playhouse, where
I saw Athol Fugard’s Master Harold and the Boys last week. Now I
can’t get them out of my mind - the play and the theatre, that is.
An evening at this theatre is the perfect antidote to an expensive, busy
and buzzy night at a big West End show. In
fact, I have worked 10 minutes walk from the Southwark Playhouse for years
and have never even noticed it. The whole operation is very low key and
relaxed - from the person who takes your booking on the phone to the pre-theatre
bar, the atmosphere of which reminded me of a friendly country sports
club. And (…drumroll here please…) it costs just a tenner
for a front row seat, provided you arrive a little before ‘curtain
up’ but, hey, the worst outcome is sitting in the second (or back)
row.
The theatre is much like a large living room with seating on three sides,
which makes for a very intimate evening. So intimate that we had to move
our feet out of the way of the actors a few times. This really was quite
the perfect setting for this powerful play. I did not know the story of
the play before this evening last week and that, of course, added to the
power. Suffice to say that it was with very red eyes that I made my way
home that evening.
The story of great dignity and awful shame was beautifully acted by Ewart
James Walters, David Webber and Jonathan Broadbent. I was very interested
to read later that the play, which is autobiographical, was first performed
at the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway in 1982 with none other than Danny Glover
as Willie, alongside Lonny Price as Hally and Zakes Makoe as Sam.
I would see this production of Master Harold again except that the run
has now ended. There is some consolation, though: I have booked tickets
for Forgotten Voices from the Great War - What The Women Did, which is
showing at the Southwark Playhouse from September 21 to October 9.
Southwark
Playhouse
5 Playhouse Court
62 Southwark Bridge Road
London SE1 0AT
www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk
Box office: 020 7620 3494
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