Master Harold - Day Two

First Day of Rehearsal

After many an intro, I gave my schpiel (sp):

We will focus on the relationships. You cannot play politics, you cannot play cultural transformation, you cannot play history. We can steep the play in politics and culture and history, but really this is a personal story.

The reading was great. Very lucky to have Clifton, Wendell, and Guiesseppe together. They will be sensational. I have no doubt this show will move people.

We are proceeding slowly through the script, as is my wont. Why it's title "MASTER HAROLD"...and the boys: With Master Harold in quote we see that it is being mocked, but it is capitalized. The boys are in lower case, following the ellipsis. It seems very purposeful to me. That Willie and Sam aren't mentioned in the title is very much a strong point.

We have plenty of great background material to look at. We read a bit about the south african apartheid laws - many of which were passed around the time of the action of the play (1950). Important to remember that these were the de jure laws - there were plenty of de facto laws in place.

What is the deal with Hally's father. He is a cripple and an alcoholic. But what is the treatment that he is going through at hospital?

What else? go through about 1/3 of the play reading it slowly. Important to see the difference in performance of recalling memories and sharing them. By that I mean, I think there are moments where there are moments of heightened poetic nostalgia, and there are moments where its incumbent upon my actors to defeat the poetry...

Looking forward to working with these guys.