“Master Harold” … and the boys by Athol Fugard

The exercise leads students to understand the symbolic meanings that both music and dance convey in “Master Harold" ... and the boys. Through it operates very subtly in the written script, music plays an important role in the performance of the play, as a suggestion of harmony that is lacking in an apartheid-dominated society. Frequently referred to by the characters, and often approximated by them, music is clearly something longed for as both a salve for their current problems and a vague but promising hope for the future. When the sound recording finally is heard in the concluding moments of the play, we witness how music plays a transformative and even magical role that goes beyond the scripted words. Similarly, dance functions as a physical response to the music. As embodied creativity, the ballroom dancing is
in stark contrast to the enforced bodily labor that ordinarily constitutes Sam and Willie's daily physicality. Students engage in dance-like movement in this exercise to perceive the differences between movement in service to someone versus movement in collaboration with another.