Chris Weare

Being edited 10/3/2022

(Also billed as Christopher Weare, though most often referred to as "Chris".)

Chris Weare (19*-). Actor, director, theatre maker, teacher and administrator.

Biography

Born Christopher Weare.

Married to voice coach and director Liz Mills.

Training

He received his training at Rhodes University Drama Department, graduating in the early 1970s.

Career

Became a lecturer in the Department of Drama at University of Cape Town Drama Department in 19*, later became Associate Professor and Director of the Little Theatre in the same department. Made professor and director of Little Theatre (19*). He retired in **. He is also the founder of the Intimate Theatre, and a founding member of The Mechanicals Collective.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Doctor Faustus as "Robin" 1968, Peer Gynt 1970, Richard Gush of Salem 1970, The Playboy of the Western World 1971, Macbeth 1979, The Crucible 1980, The Philanthropist 1980, The Silent Woman 1981

As actor, he played Hal in Kvetch and Graham Johnston in We All Fall Down (1988). He starred in Lena Farugia’s We and Them at the Leonard Rayne Theatre in 1989 and in 2010 he staged the play at The Theatre on the Square.

Ostrich palace/volstruispaleis 1996 KKNK Baxter, Rick Everett

African Star! – The Will Schreiner Story. 1999-2000

He subsequently became known as a fine director, his work including Skyvers (Rhodes 1978), Absurd Person Singular (Rhodes 1979), The Business of Murder, El Grande de Coca Cola (1981), Skyf (1984), East (1990), People are Living There (also playing “Shorty”, 1995), Elizabeth (1996), Pick Ups (1998), Bungee Writing Finals (2003), Noises Off (2005) as well as its Afrikaans version Lawwe Geluide (2007), The Incredible Beer Show (2006), Bonhoeffer (2006), Buried Child (2008), The Zoo Story (2008-2009), MacBeki - A Farce to the Reckoned With (2009), Decadence (2010), Raiders of the Lost Aardvark (2010), Spring Awakening (2010), Lovborg's Women (2011), The Real Inspector Hound (2011), House of Usher (2012), Tonight Neither Hamlet (2012), The Colonel Bird (2013), An Audience with Miss Hobhouse (2013), The Titanic Orchestra (2013), An Absolute Turkey (2013), Sexual Perversity in Chicago (2013), Vigil (2013-2014), Same Time Next Year (2013-2014), Curl Up and Dye (2014),A Lie of the Mind (2014), Gertrude Stein and a Companion (2018).

He directed Alan Committie’s one-man show No, Seriously? in 2013 at the Montecasino Theatre.

Material held by NELM to be investigated: The Trojan Horse – Weare: Playscript [Typescript (photocopy)] NELM Location: [Collection: MANIM, Mannie]: 2005. 11. 1. 320; The Greeks – Weare: Theatre programme [Typescript] NELM Location: [Collection: MORRIS, Gay]: 2007. 13. 24. 1

Chris acted in the film That Englishwoman.

He was one of the founders of the Arena Theatre Company in Cape Town in 1997 and he wason the first steering committee of the Cape Town Theatre Laboratory in 1998.

Awards, etc

In 1979 he was awarded the first Leon Gluckman Memorial Scholarship, presented to him by Dr Henry Gluckman during the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Rhodes University Drama Department.

He has won four Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards (as Best Supporting Actor for "Hal" in Berkoff's Kvetch (1988), as Best Director and the Rosalie van der Gucht Prize for New Directors for Berkoff's East (1990), the Fleur du Cap Theatre Award as Best Director for Elizabeth (1996) and **.

Nominated Fleur 2008 Chris Weare: Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead;

Fleur du Cap Lifetime Award, award year 2012.

Sources

We All Fall Down programme notes, 1988.

Tucker, 1997.

Theatre programmes, photographs and other material held by NELM in various locations.

South African Panorama, 31 December 1979.

Weare to direct 50th Fleur du Cap Theatre Awards - 15/03/2015 - Artslink.co.za News

https://alexanderbar.co.za/show/getrudesteinandacompanion/

Die Burger, 19 March 2012 (Lifetime Award, Fleur du Cap).

Go to ESAT Bibliography

Return to

Return to ESAT Personalities W

Return to South African Theatre Personalities

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page