WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.859 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. It is so great 00:00:02.859 --> 00:00:04.519 to have you with us again. Absolutely glad to 00:00:04.519 --> 00:00:07.820 be here. We've got a... A truly powerful mission 00:00:07.820 --> 00:00:10.619 for this deep dive today. We are looking at a 00:00:10.619 --> 00:00:13.019 stack of notes specifically centered around a 00:00:13.019 --> 00:00:16.559 Wikipedia article detailing Afol Fugard's 1982 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:19.660 play Master Harold and the Boys. Such an incredible 00:00:19.660 --> 00:00:22.199 piece of work. It really is. And our goal today 00:00:22.199 --> 00:00:25.780 is to unpack a profoundly moving story. We're 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:28.100 going to examine how institutionalized racism 00:00:28.100 --> 00:00:31.609 and hatred can seep into and... ultimately poison 00:00:31.609 --> 00:00:34.450 even the most innocent of childhood relationships. 00:00:34.710 --> 00:00:37.490 Right. It's a heady topic and an incredibly important 00:00:37.490 --> 00:00:39.869 one that really challenges how you might think 00:00:39.869 --> 00:00:41.909 about the invisible structures of the environments 00:00:41.909 --> 00:00:44.750 you grew up in. Yeah. To really grasp the psychological 00:00:44.750 --> 00:00:47.429 weight of this story, we first have to look at 00:00:47.429 --> 00:00:49.390 how the playwright uses the setting. Right. Set 00:00:49.390 --> 00:00:52.030 the scene for us. So we're in South Africa in 00:00:52.030 --> 00:00:54.789 the year 1950. Set in Port Elizabeth, we are 00:00:54.789 --> 00:00:58.020 right at the dawn of formalized apartheid. You 00:00:58.020 --> 00:01:00.340 already understand the sweeping legislative horrors 00:01:00.340 --> 00:01:02.859 of that era. But what the play does here is entirely 00:01:02.859 --> 00:01:06.000 microscopic. Exactly. It places that massive 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:09.019 systemic machinery inside a tiny claustrophobic 00:01:09.019 --> 00:01:12.140 room to show how sweeping societal laws inevitably 00:01:12.140 --> 00:01:15.200 dictate the most intimate everyday interactions 00:01:15.200 --> 00:01:17.620 between individuals. OK, let's unpack this because 00:01:17.620 --> 00:01:19.579 that physical setting is brilliantly contained. 00:01:20.230 --> 00:01:22.670 Based on the source material, the entire play 00:01:22.670 --> 00:01:25.670 takes place in real time on a single rainy day 00:01:25.670 --> 00:01:29.069 in 1950. Just one afternoon. Just one rainy afternoon. 00:01:29.269 --> 00:01:31.689 We're inside the St. George's Park Tea Room. 00:01:31.890 --> 00:01:34.549 And it's an intense pressure cooker setup because 00:01:34.549 --> 00:01:36.129 there are only three characters in the entire 00:01:36.129 --> 00:01:38.450 story. Right. You have Hallie, a 17 -year -old 00:01:38.450 --> 00:01:41.189 white boy. And two black men in their mid -40s 00:01:41.189 --> 00:01:44.170 who work as servants in the tea room, Sam Samella 00:01:44.170 --> 00:01:47.109 and Willie Maloppo. And the dynamic between those 00:01:47.109 --> 00:01:49.489 three characters is a masterclass in complex— 00:01:49.549 --> 00:01:51.810 city right from the curtain rise. I mean, Willie 00:01:51.810 --> 00:01:54.129 embodies a very specific survival strategy in 00:01:54.129 --> 00:01:56.230 this oppressive society. He plays the role of 00:01:56.230 --> 00:01:58.790 the subservient worker. He does. He is the one 00:01:58.790 --> 00:02:01.129 who respectfully calls the young white boy Master 00:02:01.129 --> 00:02:04.010 Harold. But Sam operates completely differently. 00:02:04.250 --> 00:02:06.629 Sam acts as a worldly mentor to Hallie Wright. 00:02:06.790 --> 00:02:09.469 Exactly. He genuinely wants to guide this teenage 00:02:09.469 --> 00:02:12.229 boy through the awkwardness of adolescence and 00:02:12.229 --> 00:02:15.009 help him transition into manhood. Which creates 00:02:15.009 --> 00:02:18.319 a really strange triangle. Willie is reinforcing 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:21.919 the racial hierarchy of 1950 South Africa, while 00:02:21.919 --> 00:02:24.659 Sam and Hallie seem to be actively ignoring it. 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:26.620 Trying to relate to each other as a father figure 00:02:26.620 --> 00:02:29.500 and a son. Yeah, they are attempting to carve 00:02:29.500 --> 00:02:32.240 out a micro society inside that tea room where 00:02:32.240 --> 00:02:34.740 the laws of the outside world just don't apply. 00:02:35.080 --> 00:02:36.780 But of course, the tragedy of the play is that 00:02:36.780 --> 00:02:38.699 the outside world is always waiting at the door. 00:02:38.819 --> 00:02:41.139 It always is. And here's where it gets really 00:02:41.139 --> 00:02:44.120 interesting and, frankly, incredibly difficult 00:02:44.120 --> 00:02:46.810 to digest. The source notes tell us this isn't 00:02:46.810 --> 00:02:49.389 just a purely fictional scenario. No, it's shockingly 00:02:49.389 --> 00:02:52.189 autobiographical. The playwright Antofy Gurds 00:02:52.189 --> 00:02:54.409 was actually born with the name Harold. Wow. 00:02:54.750 --> 00:02:57.090 Yeah. His own boyhood was strikingly similar 00:02:57.090 --> 00:02:59.889 to the character Halley's. Fugard's mother ran 00:02:59.889 --> 00:03:02.110 a tea shop to support the family. His father 00:03:02.110 --> 00:03:05.250 was disabled. And his relationship with his family's 00:03:05.250 --> 00:03:08.590 servants was exactly this complicated mix. Sometimes 00:03:08.590 --> 00:03:11.030 he treated them as genuine friends and mentors, 00:03:11.189 --> 00:03:14.210 but other times he leaned on the societal hierarchy. 00:03:14.569 --> 00:03:17.090 Treating them as subservient help. Right, even 00:03:17.090 --> 00:03:19.530 insisting that they call him Master Harold. And 00:03:19.530 --> 00:03:21.849 tragically, the most devastating climax in the 00:03:21.849 --> 00:03:24.689 play is drawn directly from Fugard's real life. 00:03:25.159 --> 00:03:27.900 Fugard himself once actually spat in the face 00:03:27.900 --> 00:03:29.879 of a black servant that he had been very close 00:03:29.879 --> 00:03:32.319 to. What's fascinating here is how Fugard takes 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:36.000 this deeply personal, intensely shameful childhood 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.680 memory and puts it on stage for the world to 00:03:38.680 --> 00:03:41.500 dissect. It's incredibly brave, but so dark. 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:44.759 It is. He is using his own real -life guilt to 00:03:44.759 --> 00:03:47.960 explore a much larger universal truth. He's showing 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:50.620 us exactly how a society's bigotry can be completely 00:03:50.620 --> 00:03:52.740 absorbed by the people living under it. Right. 00:03:52.860 --> 00:03:54.879 It's not just a simplistic narrative about a 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:57.460 bad kid doing a bad thing. Not at all. It's an 00:03:57.460 --> 00:04:00.120 exploration of how institutionalized hatred acts 00:04:00.120 --> 00:04:03.180 like a sponge. Even a child who has genuine affection 00:04:03.180 --> 00:04:05.560 for the people around him can under pressure 00:04:05.560 --> 00:04:07.800 be infected by the toxic hierarchy of the world 00:04:07.800 --> 00:04:10.580 outside. It really makes you evaluate the atmospheric 00:04:10.580 --> 00:04:13.439 beliefs we absorb without ever realizing it. 00:04:13.740 --> 00:04:16.199 But it's worth noting that the play doesn't start 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:18.680 in that dark. dark, tragic place. No, it doesn't. 00:04:18.740 --> 00:04:20.879 The opening scenes, as described in our sources, 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:23.779 are actually quite light, almost joyful. You 00:04:23.779 --> 00:04:26.000 have Willie and Sam alone in the tea room, and 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:28.160 they are practicing ballroom dancing steps for 00:04:28.160 --> 00:04:30.720 an upcoming major competition. Though if we look 00:04:30.720 --> 00:04:34.420 closely, Fugard plants a darker undertone even 00:04:34.420 --> 00:04:37.259 in that joyous opening. Oh, right. Willie is 00:04:37.259 --> 00:04:39.639 complaining about his partner. Yes. Willie is 00:04:39.639 --> 00:04:41.800 complaining that his ballroom partner, who is 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.540 also his girlfriend, is lacking enthusiasm for 00:04:44.540 --> 00:04:47.420 the dance. And Sam, playing the wise observer, 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:50.720 calmly points out the reality. That she's lacking 00:04:50.720 --> 00:04:53.540 enthusiasm because Willie beats her every single 00:04:53.540 --> 00:04:56.019 time she makes a mistake. That is such a jarring 00:04:56.019 --> 00:04:58.360 detail to include in a scene about dancing. It 00:04:58.360 --> 00:05:01.019 really is. It's a stark reminder that even in 00:05:01.019 --> 00:05:03.879 moments of attempted beauty and escape, the cycle 00:05:03.879 --> 00:05:06.220 of violence and control is still rolling downhill. 00:05:06.759 --> 00:05:09.339 Willie has no power in the white -dominated society, 00:05:09.500 --> 00:05:12.339 so he violently exerts control over his dance 00:05:12.339 --> 00:05:15.160 partner. It's a microcosm of the displaced anger 00:05:15.160 --> 00:05:17.620 that will eventually consume Hallie. That makes 00:05:17.620 --> 00:05:20.199 total sense. Because when young Hallie arrives 00:05:20.199 --> 00:05:24.459 home from school, the tone shifts into this incredibly 00:05:24.459 --> 00:05:27.639 warm, engaging banter. He cheerfully asks how 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:29.720 the dancing is going, and the three of them launch 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:33.240 into a deep, philosophical discussion. They debate 00:05:33.240 --> 00:05:36.199 what makes a man of magnitude discussing historical 00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:38.800 figures and their contributions to society. And 00:05:38.800 --> 00:05:41.079 notice how the tea room functions in that moment. 00:05:41.160 --> 00:05:43.579 It feels like a safe haven. Yeah, a space where 00:05:43.579 --> 00:05:46.000 these three minds can connect as intellectual 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:48.740 equals, completely tossing aside the laws of 00:05:48.740 --> 00:05:51.079 apartheid that exist just beyond the windows. 00:05:51.399 --> 00:05:53.720 Hallie isn't a master here. He's a student, and 00:05:53.720 --> 00:05:56.279 Sam is his teacher. And that equal footing leads 00:05:56.279 --> 00:05:59.420 directly to Halley's homework. He has a 500 -word 00:05:59.420 --> 00:06:02.000 English composition to write, and together the 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:04.540 three of them brainstorm this beautiful idea. 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:07.300 They decide to use the ballroom dancing floor 00:06:07.300 --> 00:06:09.779 as a metaphor describing it as a world without 00:06:09.779 --> 00:06:12.339 collisions. The significance of that specific 00:06:12.339 --> 00:06:15.660 metaphor cannot be overstated. A world without 00:06:15.660 --> 00:06:19.279 collisions. In the context of 1950s South Africa, 00:06:19.459 --> 00:06:22.579 a world without collisions is a profound, almost 00:06:22.579 --> 00:06:25.000 heartbreaking fantasy. It really is. It represents 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:27.939 this idealized transcendent vision of life where 00:06:27.939 --> 00:06:29.939 people can move gracefully around each other 00:06:29.939 --> 00:06:32.680 without conflict, without violence, without the 00:06:32.680 --> 00:06:35.120 harsh, brutal reality of society. systemic segregation. 00:06:35.379 --> 00:06:37.519 It's stark contrast to the world they actually 00:06:37.519 --> 00:06:40.379 live in where racial and social collisions are 00:06:40.379 --> 00:06:43.199 literally mandated by the government. And it 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.259 highlights why Willie and Sam are so obsessed 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:47.980 with the ballroom dance competition. For those 00:06:47.980 --> 00:06:49.720 few minutes on the dance floor, life is ordered. 00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:52.040 It is fair. If you know the steps, you don't 00:06:52.040 --> 00:06:55.040 collide. Exactly. It is the exact opposite of 00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:57.120 the chaotic, oppressive reality they navigate 00:06:57.120 --> 00:06:59.300 every day. The warmth in the room just continues 00:06:59.300 --> 00:07:01.819 to build as Hallie starts reminiscing about when 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:03.879 Sam and Willie used to live in a boarding house 00:07:03.879 --> 00:07:06.420 together. He has this incredibly fond memory 00:07:06.420 --> 00:07:09.259 of Sam making a kite for him out of absolute 00:07:09.259 --> 00:07:12.639 junk. Tomato box, wood, brown paper, flour, and 00:07:12.639 --> 00:07:15.040 water for glue. Hallie actually wants to write 00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:17.160 his school composition about that exact memory, 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:20.779 the two of them flying the kite. But he hesitates, 00:07:20.779 --> 00:07:23.500 doesn't he? He does. He tells Sam that he feels 00:07:23.500 --> 00:07:25.740 the ending of that memory is just too simple 00:07:25.740 --> 00:07:28.720 to make a good story. Because, as Hallie recalls 00:07:28.720 --> 00:07:31.259 it, he was just sitting on a park bench, watching 00:07:31.259 --> 00:07:34.839 the kite fly high in the sky while Sam quietly 00:07:34.839 --> 00:07:37.120 left to go back to work. Hallie thinks it lacks 00:07:37.120 --> 00:07:39.899 a dramatic punch. It's just a mundane childhood 00:07:39.899 --> 00:07:42.740 memory to him, sitting on a bench while the adults 00:07:42.740 --> 00:07:45.120 go back to work. It seems innocuous at first, 00:07:45.259 --> 00:07:48.860 but it's a brilliant delayed fuse. set up by 00:07:48.860 --> 00:07:51.759 Fugard. He is planting a seed that will grow 00:07:51.759 --> 00:07:54.040 into something entirely devastating by the end 00:07:54.040 --> 00:07:55.759 of the play. Which brings us to the moment that 00:07:55.759 --> 00:07:58.899 safe, warm bubble of the tea room is violently 00:07:58.899 --> 00:08:01.800 popped. The outside world intrudes. It intrudes 00:08:01.800 --> 00:08:04.139 through the ringing of the telephone. Hallie's 00:08:04.139 --> 00:08:06.600 mother calls. And through these calls, we learn 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:08.899 some very specific grim facts from the source 00:08:08.899 --> 00:08:11.160 material about Hallie's father. He is currently 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:13.279 at the hospital receiving treatment for complications 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:16.439 from a leg he lost in World War I. But the physical 00:08:16.439 --> 00:08:19.699 injury is just the surface. The father is a tyrannical 00:08:19.699 --> 00:08:22.899 alcoholic, and Hallie is terrified of him coming 00:08:22.899 --> 00:08:25.339 home. You can feel the anxiety radiating off 00:08:25.339 --> 00:08:28.459 the boy. As the calls progress, his father coming 00:08:28.459 --> 00:08:31.459 home means the house will once again be filled 00:08:31.459 --> 00:08:35.120 with screaming, fighting and drinking. But more 00:08:35.120 --> 00:08:37.279 specifically for Hallie, it means he will be 00:08:37.279 --> 00:08:40.539 forced back into a caregiver role, doing incredibly 00:08:40.539 --> 00:08:43.149 demeaning chores for an abusive parent. Right, 00:08:43.169 --> 00:08:45.850 he has to physically massage his father's amputated 00:08:45.850 --> 00:08:49.250 stump, and he has an empty chamber of pots full 00:08:49.250 --> 00:08:51.889 of his father's urine. It is a deeply humiliating, 00:08:51.889 --> 00:08:54.450 miserable existence for a 17 -year -old boy trying 00:08:54.450 --> 00:08:56.570 to find his own dignity. The first phone call 00:08:56.570 --> 00:08:58.870 gives Hallie hope that his dad won't be discharged. 00:08:59.610 --> 00:09:01.690 He thinks he has a few more days of peace. But 00:09:01.690 --> 00:09:04.330 the second call confirms the nightmare. His mother 00:09:04.330 --> 00:09:06.350 is bringing the father home. And Hallie just 00:09:06.350 --> 00:09:09.429 completely unravels. He is so distraught, so 00:09:09.429 --> 00:09:12.330 filled with anger and pain that he starts venting 00:09:12.330 --> 00:09:14.950 to Sam and Willie. But the venting turns incredibly 00:09:14.950 --> 00:09:18.110 ugly. He starts viciously mocking his own father 00:09:18.110 --> 00:09:20.549 and his father's crippled condition. It's a very 00:09:20.549 --> 00:09:23.350 dark, uncomfortable moment. And Sam steps in. 00:09:23.450 --> 00:09:26.070 Acting as that moral anchor and mentor figure, 00:09:26.309 --> 00:09:29.539 Sam chastises Hallie. He tells the boy he shouldn't 00:09:29.539 --> 00:09:31.740 speak about his father that way, reminding him 00:09:31.740 --> 00:09:34.480 of the respect a son owes a father, regardless 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:36.700 of the circumstances. But Hallie doesn't take 00:09:36.700 --> 00:09:38.799 the correction well at all. If we connect this 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:41.840 to the bigger picture, this is the crucial psychological 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:45.700 pivot of the entire play. Think about Hallie's 00:09:45.700 --> 00:09:48.200 internal state at this exact second. He feels 00:09:48.200 --> 00:09:51.259 cornered. At home, he is profoundly powerless. 00:09:52.029 --> 00:09:54.529 He is subjected to the whims of an abusive alcoholic 00:09:54.529 --> 00:09:58.230 father forced into humiliating servitude. He 00:09:58.230 --> 00:10:00.509 has zero control over his own life or his own 00:10:00.509 --> 00:10:03.529 dignity. So when Sam, a black servant in apartheid 00:10:03.529 --> 00:10:06.269 South Africa, dares to scold him, Halley's profound 00:10:06.269 --> 00:10:09.149 powerlessness triggers a horrific defense mechanism. 00:10:09.389 --> 00:10:11.370 He desperately needs to assert dominance somewhere, 00:10:11.470 --> 00:10:13.350 anywhere to feel like he has some semblance of 00:10:13.350 --> 00:10:16.129 control. So he reaches for the one weapon society 00:10:16.129 --> 00:10:19.149 has handed him on a silver platter, his race. 00:10:19.350 --> 00:10:22.470 Precisely. He cannot overpower his father, but 00:10:22.470 --> 00:10:24.870 the laws of South Africa tell him he can overpower 00:10:24.870 --> 00:10:27.230 Sam and Willie. It's devastating to read about. 00:10:27.669 --> 00:10:30.070 Hallie, who is feeling deeply ashamed of himself 00:10:30.070 --> 00:10:33.409 for mocking his dad, turns all that inward shame 00:10:33.409 --> 00:10:36.490 outward onto Sam. He unleashes this vicarious 00:10:36.490 --> 00:10:38.990 racism that he's clearly learned directly from 00:10:38.990 --> 00:10:40.929 his father's drunken rants. It's like a switch 00:10:40.929 --> 00:10:43.850 flips in the room. He stops treating Sam and 00:10:43.850 --> 00:10:46.950 Willie as friends, mentors, or equals. For the 00:10:46.950 --> 00:10:49.289 first time in the play, he explicitly treats 00:10:49.289 --> 00:10:52.250 them as subservient help. He demands that Sam 00:10:52.250 --> 00:10:55.190 call him Master Harold, forcing Willie's survival 00:10:55.190 --> 00:10:57.750 dynamic onto Sam. It is an absolute violation 00:10:57.750 --> 00:11:00.149 of everything they've built together. Hallie 00:11:00.149 --> 00:11:02.250 is enforcing the apartheid law in a room that 00:11:02.250 --> 00:11:04.149 had previously been their sanctuary from it. 00:11:04.190 --> 00:11:06.669 And it escalates to a point of no return. In 00:11:06.669 --> 00:11:09.450 a moment of blind, desperate rage to prove his 00:11:09.450 --> 00:11:12.429 superiority, Hallie spits directly in Sam's face. 00:11:12.830 --> 00:11:15.049 The source material nights the sheer visceral 00:11:15.049 --> 00:11:18.470 reaction to this. Sam is deeply hurt and incredibly 00:11:18.470 --> 00:11:21.190 angry. Both he and Willie come dangerously close 00:11:21.190 --> 00:11:23.090 to physically attacking Hallie right then and 00:11:23.090 --> 00:11:25.629 there. The tension is explosive. But they stop 00:11:25.629 --> 00:11:28.169 themselves. Why do they hold back in that moment 00:11:28.169 --> 00:11:30.710 of pure degradation? Because they are adults 00:11:30.710 --> 00:11:33.370 who truly care for this boy. And they realize 00:11:33.370 --> 00:11:36.110 something profound that Hallie is too blind to 00:11:36.110 --> 00:11:38.970 see. Hallie is ultimately causing himself the 00:11:38.970 --> 00:11:42.129 most pain. Wow. He has just destroyed the one... 00:11:42.480 --> 00:11:44.779 pure loving relationship he had in his miserable 00:11:44.779 --> 00:11:47.419 life. And he's done it solely to uphold a toxic 00:11:47.419 --> 00:11:49.659 system that doesn't actually make him happy or 00:11:49.659 --> 00:11:52.840 safe. Striking him would just be physical pain. 00:11:53.159 --> 00:11:55.659 How he has already shattered his own soul. That 00:11:55.659 --> 00:11:57.980 realization leads us into the final moments of 00:11:57.980 --> 00:12:00.500 the play. And it is just heartbreaking. After 00:12:00.500 --> 00:12:03.009 the initial shock wears off, There is a tiny, 00:12:03.049 --> 00:12:06.070 fragile glimmer of hope for reconciliation. Sam, 00:12:06.070 --> 00:12:08.370 showing incredible grace, addresses Hallie by 00:12:08.370 --> 00:12:10.409 his nickname again. He asks if they can start 00:12:10.409 --> 00:12:12.509 over the next day and maybe go fly another kite, 00:12:12.730 --> 00:12:14.870 hearkening back to those simpler, purer days. 00:12:15.169 --> 00:12:17.110 Hallie is completely paralyzed by the weight 00:12:17.110 --> 00:12:19.490 of what he's just done. He refuses the olive 00:12:19.490 --> 00:12:22.289 branch. He tells Sam, it's still raining. You 00:12:22.289 --> 00:12:24.529 can't fly kites on rainy days, remember? Which 00:12:24.529 --> 00:12:27.009 is when Sam reveals the devastating truth about 00:12:27.009 --> 00:12:29.789 that original kite story. Remember earlier how 00:12:29.789 --> 00:12:31.409 Hallie thought the memory of the kite was too 00:12:31.409 --> 00:12:34.129 simple? Just a nice day in the park. Well, Sam 00:12:34.129 --> 00:12:36.309 explains why he actually made that kite out of 00:12:36.309 --> 00:12:38.090 junk in the first place. Yeah. He didn't just 00:12:38.090 --> 00:12:40.669 do it for fun on a sunny afternoon. He built 00:12:40.669 --> 00:12:42.809 it because earlier that day, Hallie's father 00:12:42.809 --> 00:12:45.289 had passed out completely drunk at a local hotel 00:12:45.289 --> 00:12:48.009 bar. Hallie's mother wasn't around so young, 00:12:48.129 --> 00:12:51.269 Hallie, and Sam had to go fetch him. Sam literally 00:12:51.269 --> 00:12:54.049 had to carry the unconscious, drunken father 00:12:54.049 --> 00:12:56.929 home on his back through the streets. While little 00:12:56.929 --> 00:12:59.389 Hallie walked miserably behind them, carrying 00:12:59.389 --> 00:13:02.429 his dad's crutches. It cast that entire memory 00:13:02.429 --> 00:13:04.970 in such a dark light. The kite wasn't just a 00:13:04.970 --> 00:13:07.889 toy. It was a distraction from profound trauma. 00:13:08.309 --> 00:13:11.190 Yes. Sam says he took pity on young Hallie's 00:13:11.190 --> 00:13:14.309 deep shame and humiliation that day. He wanted 00:13:14.309 --> 00:13:16.230 to give the boy something to look up at, something 00:13:16.230 --> 00:13:18.210 to be proud of, so he wouldn't just be looking 00:13:18.210 --> 00:13:20.269 down at his father's drunken stumble. That's 00:13:20.269 --> 00:13:22.529 why he built the kite. But the real gut punch 00:13:22.529 --> 00:13:24.549 of the scene is the twist about the park bench. 00:13:24.889 --> 00:13:26.809 Hallie remembered Sam leaving him on the bench 00:13:26.809 --> 00:13:29.669 to go back to work. But Sam reveals the real 00:13:29.669 --> 00:13:32.929 reason he walked away. He left because the bench 00:13:32.929 --> 00:13:35.490 Hallie was sitting on had a sign on it that said, 00:13:35.570 --> 00:13:38.840 whites only. Young Hallie had been so mesmerized 00:13:38.840 --> 00:13:41.279 by the kite, so caught up in the joy Sam created 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:43.919 for him, that he didn't even notice the institutional 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:46.679 racism right beneath him. He literally didn't 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:49.399 see the sign. He was innocent to it then. But 00:13:49.399 --> 00:13:52.100 Sam delivers the final crushing lesson of the 00:13:52.100 --> 00:13:54.820 play. He tells Hallie that now he sees the sign. 00:13:55.019 --> 00:13:57.299 He knows exactly what bench he is sitting on. 00:13:57.399 --> 00:13:59.820 And Sam tells Hallie that he can, figuratively 00:13:59.820 --> 00:14:02.809 speaking, choose to walk away from that whites 00:14:02.809 --> 00:14:05.350 -only bench at any time. He has a choice to make 00:14:05.350 --> 00:14:07.570 about the kind of man he's going to become. Will 00:14:07.570 --> 00:14:09.649 he sit on the bench of systemic privilege in 00:14:09.649 --> 00:14:11.889 isolation, or will he stand up and join a world 00:14:11.889 --> 00:14:13.809 without collisions? But Hallie doesn't answer. 00:14:13.970 --> 00:14:17.009 He is too cowardly or too entrenched in his own 00:14:17.009 --> 00:14:20.029 shame to make the right choice. He just exits 00:14:20.029 --> 00:14:22.830 the tea room into the rain in total silence. 00:14:22.990 --> 00:14:25.230 It is a profoundly heavy silence. We don't get 00:14:25.230 --> 00:14:27.570 a neat, tidy resolution where the boy realizes 00:14:27.570 --> 00:14:30.759 the error of his ways and apologizes. Fugard 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:32.980 forces the audience to sit with the uncomfortable 00:14:32.980 --> 00:14:36.440 reality of a child choosing the safety of a corrupt 00:14:36.440 --> 00:14:39.340 system over the vulnerability of real human connection. 00:14:39.580 --> 00:14:41.740 And what happens after Hallie leaves? The play 00:14:41.740 --> 00:14:44.879 just ends with Willie and Sam alone again. Willie 00:14:44.879 --> 00:14:47.320 promises to make amends with his girlfriend and 00:14:47.320 --> 00:14:50.299 to stop beating her. A small choice to break 00:14:50.299 --> 00:14:52.720 the cycle of violence in his own life. He and 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:55.299 Sam console each other by taking Willie's bus 00:14:55.299 --> 00:14:57.500 fare, putting it in the jukebox, and they just 00:14:57.500 --> 00:15:00.360 ballroom dance together. Two men alone in a tea 00:15:00.360 --> 00:15:02.840 room swaying to the music, trying to find that 00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:05.460 world without collisions again after a devastating 00:15:05.460 --> 00:15:08.139 crash. Taking a breath from the emotional weight 00:15:08.139 --> 00:15:10.100 of that ending, you can completely understand 00:15:10.100 --> 00:15:13.039 why this is considered a masterpiece. And its 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:15.860 real world legacy completely reflects that impact. 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:18.019 Absolutely. When the play was first written, 00:15:18.179 --> 00:15:20.360 it was actually banned from production in South 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:23.039 Africa. The apartheid regime was certainly not 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:26.039 going to allow a play that so sharply and intimately 00:15:26.039 --> 00:15:28.639 dissected the psychological rot of their system 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:30.980 to be performed. Which meant it had to find an 00:15:30.980 --> 00:15:33.399 audience elsewhere. It became the very first 00:15:33.399 --> 00:15:36.100 of Fugard's plays to premiere outside of South 00:15:36.100 --> 00:15:38.929 Africa. It debuted at the Yale Repertory Theater 00:15:38.929 --> 00:15:41.889 in March of 1982, and from there it made its 00:15:41.889 --> 00:15:44.409 way to Broadway at the Lyceum Theater, where 00:15:44.409 --> 00:15:47.830 it ran for a very impressive 344 performances. 00:15:48.330 --> 00:15:51.269 The critical acclaim was immediate and massive. 00:15:51.789 --> 00:15:53.870 Looking at the quotes from the source material, 00:15:54.110 --> 00:15:56.789 the reviewers understood the gravity of what 00:15:56.789 --> 00:15:59.450 Fugard had accomplished. Alan Stern, writing 00:15:59.450 --> 00:16:01.669 in the Boston Phoenix, called it a small play 00:16:01.669 --> 00:16:04.860 that contains the soul of history. I think that 00:16:04.860 --> 00:16:08.259 perfectly captures how Fugard operates. A tiny 00:16:08.259 --> 00:16:11.620 tea room representing an entire nation's trauma. 00:16:12.580 --> 00:16:15.200 John Simon from New York Magazine noted that 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:17.840 Fugard brilliantly avoided spectacular bloody 00:16:17.840 --> 00:16:20.700 horrors. Choosing instead to focus on the subtle 00:16:20.700 --> 00:16:23.039 corrosion and corruption of apartheid on the 00:16:23.039 --> 00:16:26.000 human soul. And Frank Rich of the New York Times 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:28.039 boldly predicted that it would be an enduring 00:16:28.039 --> 00:16:30.059 part of the theater long after that Broadway 00:16:30.059 --> 00:16:32.379 season turned to dust. He was absolutely right. 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:35.279 Andy props of time out even ranked at the 42nd 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:37.139 greatest play of all time. And because of the 00:16:37.139 --> 00:16:39.539 rich, complex roles, it has attracted incredible 00:16:39.539 --> 00:16:42.019 talent over the years. We can quickly look at 00:16:42.019 --> 00:16:43.620 some of the notable casting from our sources. 00:16:43.740 --> 00:16:46.259 At the Yale rep and the original Broadway run, 00:16:46.419 --> 00:16:49.200 you had Yelchko Ivonek, who was later replaced 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:51.820 by Lonnie Price playing Hallie. But the actors 00:16:51.820 --> 00:16:55.000 playing Sam and Willie became legendary. Zakes 00:16:55.000 --> 00:16:58.379 Moquet played Sam and won a Tony Award for Featured 00:16:58.379 --> 00:17:01.080 Actor in a Play. And Danny Glover played Willie, 00:17:01.379 --> 00:17:03.960 winning a Theatre World Award. The adaptations 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.160 continued to draw major names, too. Fugert adapted 00:17:07.160 --> 00:17:10.380 it himself for a television film in 1985 that 00:17:10.380 --> 00:17:12.960 starred Matthew Broderick as Hallie, with Zakes 00:17:12.960 --> 00:17:15.200 Moquet returning to his Tony -winning role as 00:17:15.200 --> 00:17:18.490 Sam and John Kamini stepping in as Willie. Decades 00:17:18.490 --> 00:17:20.890 later in 2010, another feature film was produced 00:17:20.890 --> 00:17:23.390 starring Freddie Highmore as Hallie and Ving 00:17:23.390 --> 00:17:25.849 Rhames as Sam. Interestingly, that version was 00:17:25.849 --> 00:17:28.230 actually directed by Lonnie Price, the actor 00:17:28.230 --> 00:17:30.109 who played Hallie in the original Broadway cast, 00:17:30.490 --> 00:17:32.690 bringing the entire emotional journey of the 00:17:32.690 --> 00:17:34.769 play full circle for him. So what does this all 00:17:34.769 --> 00:17:36.490 mean when you take a step back from the specific 00:17:36.490 --> 00:17:38.849 dates, the awards and the incredible performances? 00:17:39.029 --> 00:17:41.549 This deep dive is really a challenge directed 00:17:41.549 --> 00:17:44.579 right at. You the listener. It asks us to examine 00:17:44.579 --> 00:17:46.619 the beliefs that we just inherit by virtue of 00:17:46.619 --> 00:17:49.119 where we happen to be born. It forces us to look 00:17:49.119 --> 00:17:51.279 at the pain we hold inside and the terrifying 00:17:51.279 --> 00:17:53.779 ease with which we can project that pain onto 00:17:53.779 --> 00:17:56.200 someone with less power just to feel a fleeting 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:59.220 sense of control. Haley wasn't born evil. He 00:17:59.220 --> 00:18:01.519 absorbed the hatred of his environment. And when 00:18:01.519 --> 00:18:03.559 his own personal life pushed him to his breaking 00:18:03.559 --> 00:18:06.140 point, he reached for that hatred like a weapon. 00:18:06.319 --> 00:18:08.579 This raises an important question for all of 00:18:08.579 --> 00:18:11.420 us about our own environments. We all like to 00:18:11.420 --> 00:18:13.740 think of ourselves as independent thinkers, totally 00:18:13.740 --> 00:18:16.619 immune to the societal structures operating around 00:18:16.619 --> 00:18:19.259 us. But how much of our worldview is shaped by 00:18:19.259 --> 00:18:21.880 the metaphorical key rooms we grew up in? Are 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:24.680 we actively auditing our information diets, our 00:18:24.680 --> 00:18:27.500 daily biases, and the inherited power dynamics 00:18:27.500 --> 00:18:29.740 in our own lives? Or are we just blindly absorbing 00:18:29.740 --> 00:18:32.259 the atmosphere, assuming we are immune to the 00:18:32.259 --> 00:18:34.579 rot? It's something that takes real active daily 00:18:34.579 --> 00:18:37.619 work to untangle. And that brings us to our final 00:18:37.619 --> 00:18:40.019 thought for today. We want to leave you with 00:18:40.019 --> 00:18:43.259 a concept to mull over on your own. If the whites 00:18:43.259 --> 00:18:45.660 -only bench in Sam's story is a physical metaphor 00:18:45.660 --> 00:18:48.140 for the systemic privileges and prejudices that 00:18:48.140 --> 00:18:50.940 we are born into without even realizing it, what 00:18:50.940 --> 00:18:53.599 invisible benches might you unknowingly be sitting 00:18:53.599 --> 00:18:56.759 on in your own life today? Long after formal 00:18:56.759 --> 00:18:59.119 legalized segregation laws have been struck down, 00:18:59.380 --> 00:19:02.839 what are the unspoken advantages or unexamined 00:19:02.839 --> 00:19:05.299 assumptions that you are resting on while someone 00:19:05.299 --> 00:19:07.359 else is forced to walk away in the rain? Think 00:19:07.359 --> 00:19:08.460 about it. We'll see you next time.