The Registry (original) (raw)

" Master Harold " … and the Boys

CAST: Willie Malopo: a middle-aged black man employed by a middle-class white family, owners of a tearoom Sam Semela: a middle-aged black man, a little bit older and wiser that Willie, employed by the same family Hally: seventeen-year-old white boy, high-school student, whose parents own the tearoom The St. George's Park Tea Room on a wet and windy Port Elizabeth {on the SE coast of South Africa} afternoon. Tables and chairs have been cleared and are stacked on one side except for one which stands apart with a single chair. On this table a knife, fork, spoon and side plate in anticipation of a simple meal, together with a pile of comic books. Other elements: a serving counter with a few stale cakes under glass and a not very impressive display of sweets, cigarettes and cool drinks, etc.; a few cardboard advertising handouts-Cadbury's Chocolate, Coca-Cola-and a blackboard on which an untrained hand has chalked up the prices of Tea, Coffee, Scones, Milkshakes-all flavors-and Cool Drinks; a few sad ferns in pots; a telephone; an old-style jukebox. There is an entrance on one side and an exit into a kitchen on the other. Leaning on the solitary table, his head cupped in one hand as he pages through one of the comic books, is Sam. A black man in his mid-forties. He wears the white coat of a waiter. Behind him on his knees, mopping down the floor with a bucket of water and a rag, is Willie. Also black and about the same age as Sam. He has his sleeves and trousers rolled up.