Master Harold... And the Boys Lesson Plan

Debuted in 1982 at the Yale Repertory Theatre in the United States, “Master Harold”…and the boys was the first of Athol Fugard’s plays to premiere outside of South Africa. Initially banned in South Africa for its portrayal of apartheid’s pervasive racist cruelty and because it necessitated the appearance of black and white actors onstage together, today the play is Fugard’s most popular and frequently reproduced works. The work is largely autobiographical, as Fugard based the rainy afternoon in the St. George’s Tea Room on an incident from his own life. Furthermore, the characters of Hally, Sam, and Willie are modeled off of Fugard himself and two black servants his family employed when...