Danie Burger

Danie Burger (1946-2025) was a male nurse, municipal administrator , stage actor, translator and director.

Biography

He attended high school at Hoërskool Grens, matriculating in 1963, before training for and working as a male nurse in Port Elizabeth for a few years. After an inspiring time in London and Europe in 1967, he eventually moved to Pretoria to study for a B.A. in Drama at the University of Pretoria, completing his studies in 1976. He then worked for the city's Department of Health, becoming a senior administrative officer and ultimately being appointed secretary to the Mayor in 1978.

In this period he and his friend Pieter Brand also co-founded Dinkteater ("Think Theatre"), an experimental theatre workshop housed in a warehouse in Pretoria, using semi-professional and amateur performers in avant garde productions, heavily influenced by the work of Peter Brook, Jerzy Grotowsky and the newly founded Space Theatre in Cape Town.

In 1982 he resigned his municipal job and relocated to Cape Town to study directing at the University of Cape Town under Robert Mohr. On completing his Hons BA, he joined the PACOFS drama company in 1983 as actor and director, before taking up a permanent administrative position as assistant to the Mayor in the Municipality of Durban.

In he resigned from his municipal job in 2000, citing professional differences, and retired to the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal in the new millennium, where he opened/taught at(?) The Speech & Drama Studio in Port Shepstone and Margate for a number of years.

He later moved to Pinetown, Natal, where he lived with family members for a time. He passed away of unknown causes on 18 April, 2025.

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

He apparently started his theatrical career while still at school, inter alia appearing in a concert programme presented by the Hoërskool Grens[1] in East London in 1963. He played "Philip" in the short play The Boy Comes Home or Uncle James's Dream and "programleier" ("presenter") in the skit called Amerika in Bon Voyage! (a fantasy compiled by teachers Mrs M. Viljoen and Miss E. van Eyk).

In 1967 he spent a year in Europe, including a nine month period in London, during which time he avidly attended theatre productions, gaining a much cherished insight into contemporary performance and design, . One of the most important influences he discovered in this period appears to have been the work of the Czech scenic designer Josef Svoboda (1920–2002)[2], whose expressionist style would influence his own style as director and designer greatly.

While working as a male nurse in Port Elizabeth, he became involved with the Port Elizabethse Afrikaanse Amateur Toneelvereniging (PEAAT) in Port Elizabeth, largely as a director. Among the plays he directed for them were Antigone by Sophocles, Jean Cocteau's Die Dubbele Adelaar (October, 1969). As an actor he appeared in Drie Engeltjies op Duiwelseiland (1969),

When he removed to Pretoria to study drama he did a number of plays for the drama department, including:

As actor: Die Bobaas van die Boendoe (as "Migiel Vlooi", 1974)

This training and experience led to the founding of the avant garde theatre group Dinkteater by Burger and his friend Pieter Brand, as a space in which he could explore his interest in relevant contemporary and alternative theatre-making. For example he went on to direct a number of Afrikaans versions of Elizabethan and Jacobean plays (e.g. The Duchess of Malfi, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore ), as well more contemporary works such as (Die Koning Sterf (Ionesco), Die Diensmeisies (Genet), The Shadow Box (Cristofer) and others. He also directed a number of original new Afrikaans plays for them, including Bloedlyn (197*) and Wie is Leopold? (197*) both by Temple Hauptfleisch and Die Duiwel, sy handlanger en die drie ligtekooie by Marlene van Niekerk (197*).

In this period he also did some freelance work, e.g. a production of Drie Engeltjies op Duiwelseiland for the SA Air Force's Leisure Activities directorate in 1976.

During the completion of the BA Hons course in Directing at the University of Cape Town in 1982, he was the project leader of a Honours Project called MYTH: Ritual of the Word, described as a series of theatrical exercises as a dedication to the work of Peter Brook.

On the completion of his studies he joined PACOFS as a professional actor and director. For them acted in Julius Caesar, Laat-Februarie 1922, Taraboemdery, Twaalfde Nag, Babbelkous!, Die Hand vol Vere, Vettie, Vettie!. He directed As die Nefie kom Kuier, and assisted as director for Charley se Tante.

Burger also translated and adapted plays such as The Duchess of Malfi, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore and The Shadow Box into Afrikaans, especially when doing his experimental work with Dinkteater in Pretoria. .

Sources

National Arts Festival programme, 1985.

The Danie Burger collection of personal records, theatre programmes and photographs housed in the PARC research collection of the Africa Open Institute at the University of Stellenbosch.

Personal records of Temple Hauptfleisch and Karina Hauptfleisch regarding Think Theatre

https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho%C3%ABrskool_Grens

Go to the ESAT Bibliography