Aletta Bezuidenhout

Aletta Bezuidenhout (19*-) Bilingual Afrikaans and English actress, director and writer.

Biography
Born in Kenya. She was married to actor Tertius Meintjes and later to Anthony Perris.

Trained at University of Cape Town (BA Drama) *

Career
She began her career with CAPAB for a year after graduating after which she decided to freelance and did mostly experimental work for the Space Theatre. Later she went to the Transvaal and worked for The Company and the Market Theatre, also for the Performing Arts Councils, notably PACT and CAPAB. At the same time she did much TV and film work, and in 19** she became the head of actor-training at City Varsity in Cape Town.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
For CAPAB she appeared in Die Pantoffelmoordenaars and Oom Wanja. Her work at the Space Theatre in the 1970s, included Dusa Stas Fish and Vi,  The Resistable Rise of Arturo UI,  Treats, and then in 1974 became one of the founding members of The Company, doing i.a. Begeerte, Mother Courage (1977), Vroue van Troje (Market Theatre, 1977), Scenes from an Execution (1994), Klaaglied vir Koos (19**), Tjaart Potgieter’s The Vegetable Woman or Meditations on Blake; The Minotaur’s Sister (1985), etc.

Her freelance work led to a number of prominent performances for the Performing Arts Councils, notably PACT, including Ulovane Jive (workshopped and performed with the cast, Windybrow, 1986*?), Loot (1986), The Women of Troy (Adcock-Ingram Theatre, 1987), The Maids (Windybrow Theatre, 1987), Other stage roles over the years have included Woyzeck, Six Characters in Search of an Author, People, Lysistrata, Mama is Terry Home for Good, Twelfth Night, Story Time, Antigone,  Tartuffe, Klaaglied vir Koos (1986), Reza de Wet's  Drie Susters Twee (“Three Sisters Two”, ArtsCape, Oscar in Afrika  (Aardklop, 1999), *** Reach (2007).

As a playwright her credits include: Time of Footsteps (Windybrow Theatre), Silent Envelope (Market Theatre - Director), Angel in a Dark Room (Adcock Ingram Theatre) and Little Big World (Market Theatre).

Television credits include The Lady of the Camellias, Thicker than Water, Die Sonkring, and Orion, while film credits include Djadje (Female Lead), Committed (Supporting Female Lead), On the Wire (Female Lead) and My Country, My Hat (Female Lead).

Country of my Skull and Paljas amongst her feature film credits.

Awards, etc
She has won many awards, and her award-winning stage credits include Klaaglied vir Koos (DALRO Award - Best actress), Anthony and Cleopatra, Scenes from an Execution (DALRO Award - Best Actress) and The Maids, for which she received both a DALRO Award for Best Actress and a Vita Award for Best Actress (English).

She won a FNB Vita Award in 1997 for Best Lead Actress Drie Susters Twee (Joint winner with Jana Cilliers; Fleur du Cap Best Actress Drie Susters Twee, 1997.

For more information
Wikipedia.

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