|  | Telling the story of apartheid South Africa, Master Harold and the Boys transports you back to 1950 and to a deserted tearoom on a rainy afternoon.
Black servants Sam (Louis Emerick) and Willy (Trevor Laird) work for the white owners, cleaning tables whilst practising the Quick Step for a Ballroom Dancing Competition. Throughout the rainy afternoon, as Hally trys to do his homework, a composition about a Significant Cultural Event, he decides to write about Sam and Willie's dance contest. As the story unfolds it becomes clear that Hally has grown up with two role models, his drunken father, and Sam, the black servant who has been his lifelong friend. But as and as they begin to compare life to dancing, the racial tension begins to stir.
I thought I would never see Louis Emerick as anything but Mick from Brookside, but I was truly blown away by his performance as the self-assured Sam.
Newcomer Eddie Redmayne, who graduated only this year, is excellent as anxious school-boy Hally, and Trevor Laird brings a touch of humour through the portrayal of Willy. The play runs for just under two hours with no interval, but at no point could you interrupt this powerful production, which received a standing ovation from the Liverpool audience.
An excellent production of the moving story of a young man coming of age. The show runs until Saturday 11th October.
Reviewed by Jenny Coslett |
