Pieter Jacobus Hendrik Scholtz

SCHOLTZ, Pieter Jacobus Hendrik (known as Pieter Scholtz) (7/2/1937-5/7/2025). Playwright, director, actor and professor of drama.

Biography

Born in Pietermaritzburg in 1937.

Was married to movement specialist Gillian.

He died in Durban in 2025.

Training

He graduated with a bachelor of arts degree cum laude from the University of Natal Durban in 1959.

Career

He taught at University of Natal, Department of Speech and Drama from 1967 to 1995, and succeeded Elizabeth Sneddon as Professor and Head of the Department in 1973 till 1995.

In 1997 he converted a century-old Methodist Church building in Greyville into and from ran it as the Kwasuka Theatre till his retirement.

Director of the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre and of the Shoestring Company for Alternative Theatre which promotes theatre for young audiences. He was also artistic director of the Durban Theatre Workshop Company as well as serving on many committees and associations concerned with promoting Theatre in Education and on a professional level.

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

As playwright/author

Author of 19 plays, 16 for young audiences, performed throughout South Africa, United Kingdom and Australia. He is best known as dramatist for his children’s plays therefore. Works in his Plays for Young Africa series were presented for six-monthly seasons in the Open Air Theatre on the campus of the University of Natal, Durban.

He wrote and directed his first indigenous full-length play for children in 1970. Thurkaari: Demon of the Curry Powders was performed on an open stage with direct participation between audience and actor. This became a central feature in all his plays and productions. Most of the plays revolve around a series of main characters who are joined by different minor characters in each adventure. The theme is always a battle between good and evil forces, set in a stylized multi-purpose circus setting and the characters are loosely based on Commedia dell’ arte prototypes, but are essentially modern in conception. Also utilised Zulu folklore at times (e.g. in the 1991 play Tokoloshe) and in 2005 published a book of short stories, Tales of the Tokoloshe (Struik).

His plays include:

• Thurkaari, Demon of the Curry Powders
• Dinah the Dinosaur
• Where the Rainbow Ends
• Tug of War…On a Theme by Shaw
• Children of the Sands
• The Mystery of the Disappearing Dodo
• Samantha Seal
• Prunella Penguin
• The La-Di-Da Hadeda
• Manti’s Miracle
• Miranda and the Magic Sponge
• The Adventures of Millicent Microsoft in Computerland
• The Astounding Antics of Anthony Ant
• The Trials of Keeno (Viewed and Wooed, The Audition and The Improvisation)
• The Amazing Adventures of Tambootie the Puppet (1979)
• Mister Big Strikes Again (1980)
• Tokoloshe (1991)
• The Magic Paintbrush (1997)
• Do Not Go Gentle (2000)

As director

Director of some 150 productions, including:

1964: A Man for All Seasons (Theatre Workshop Company)

1966: The Birds (University of Natal, Department of Speech and Drama)

1968: The Cavern (Theatre Audience Guild)

1970: Welcome Msomi’s Umabatha

1970: Twelfth Night (Theatre Workshop Company)

1971: The first production of Douglas Livingstone’s The Sea my Winding Sheet for the Theatre Workshop Company of the University of Natal in 1971.

1972: Welcome Msomi’s Umabatha (presented as opening production of World Theatre Season at the Royal Shakespeare Company's Aldwych Theatre in London).

1974?: Dandy Dick

1976: Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Workshop Company)

1977: Hotel Paradiso (Natal Theatre Workshop Company)

1979: The Market Theatre’s production of Black Nativity starring nineteen black artists for their Christmas production.

1991: Twelfth Night

2000: Do Not Go Gentle (Kwasuka Theatre)

As actor

As actor he appeared in numerous productions. Roles include: the lead in Hamlet (NAPAC's first Shakespearean production, 1964), toured with The World of Sholom Aleichem (which he adapted and performed) in 197*.

"Shylock" in The Merchant of Venice (NAPAC, 1966)

The Cavern (1968)

He appeared in Suicide, the opening production of the Drama Theatre at the Durban Playhouse.

He played "Tevye" in Fiddler on the Roof in 1982.

Pizarro in The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1988)

Awards, etc

Awards : 6 Durban Critics' Circle Awards; Amstel Playwright of the Year Competition, 1979 and 1980, for The Amazing Adventures of Tambootie the Puppet and Mister Big Strikes Again.

He was awarded the prestigious Edinburgh Crystal Award for his significant contribution to the creative and artistic life of the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre in 1995.

On his retirement in 1995, the Open Air Theatre was re-named the Pieter Scholtz Open-air Theatre.

Sources

See Gosher, 1988; Greyvenstein, 19* [McM, JH]

Sunday Tribune, 5 November 1995.

Billy Suter. "Death of Prof Pieter Scholtz". ...SoSuterBill... 5 July 2025.

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