Intimate portrait of racism

The political landscape may have changed since Athol Fugard penned “Master Harold and the Boys” in 1982, but his autobiographically inspired account of a life-changing rainy afternoon in apartheid-era South Africa can still make us squirm at the poisonous influence of racism.

Relying more on delicate, poetic intimacy than strident rhetoric makes Fugard’s succinct three-character drama all the more potent as it builds to a shattering point-of-no-return in the relationship between a privileged white teen and the black servants he’s known all his life.

David Rose’s handsomely staged revival for Burbank’s Colony Theatre Company takes a while to catch fire, but it effectively evokes the climate of institutionalized bigotry that Fugard grew up in and eventually rebelled against, and delivers his implicit invitation to confront our own latent prejudices.

In a cafe attached to the boardinghouse run by his parents, cocky young Hally (Michael Tauzin) returns from school to find Sam (Michael A. Shepperd) -- his surrogate father and intellectual superior -- instructing Willie (Thomas Silcott) in the fine points of ballroom dancing in preparation for a competition.

For Sam, their humble pastime is a beautiful metaphor for a world in which collisions and accidents don’t happen: “It’s the way we want life to be, but we keep bumping into one another.” All Hally can see is a possible homework essay on the culture of a primitive black society (“the war dance has been replaced by the waltz”).

Hally’s thoughtless, unexamined condescension becomes increasingly horrifying as he fortifies himself against the arrival of his alcoholic invalid father by negating his friendship with Sam.

The play’s emotional effect takes longer to develop than it should, however. Tauzin’s Hally isn’t particularly likable at the outset, and the initial camaraderie between him and “the boys” feels perfunctory. Imperfect facility by all with South African accents adds distraction.

In the end, Shepperd’s burly teddy bear of a Sam has to carry most of the emotional water. His anguish at the failure of mentorship and guidance he tried to extend to Hally is devastating in its historical prescience. Apartheid may have been replaced by a newer form of societal dysfunction, but the underlying barriers endure -- such is the kind of progress we must settle for in a world without illusions.

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‘Master Harold and the Boys’

Where: Colony Theatre, 555 N. 3rd St., Burbank

When: 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Ends: Nov. 18

Price: $37 to $42

Contact: (818) 558-7000 or www.colonytheatre.org

Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes