Reza de Wet - Revision history

Darryl: /* Awards and tributes */

2023-10-13T10:41:04Z

Awards and tributes

Darryl: /* The plays */

2023-10-13T10:37:20Z

The plays

Darryl: /* Working life */

2023-10-13T09:33:53Z

Working life

Karina2: /* Awards and tributes */

2022-12-07T12:57:43Z

Awards and tributes

Karina2: /* Sources */

2022-01-22T07:24:12Z

Sources

Satj: /* As playwright */

2021-11-12T05:04:26Z

As playwright

Satj: /* As actress */

2020-04-17T04:30:49Z

As actress

Satj at 12:28, 5 March 2019

2019-03-05T12:28:02Z

Satj: /* Tertiary training */

2019-03-01T09:53:20Z

Tertiary training

Satj: /* Awards and tributes */

2019-02-27T13:54:58Z

Awards and tributes

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 De Wet was the first playwright, and only the second author, to win the prestigious [[Hertzogprys|Hertzog Prize]] twice in a row for the same medium (in 1994 for the two collectionjs ''[[Vrystaat-trilogie]]'' and ''[[Trits: Mis, Mirakel, Drif]]'', and 1996 for ''[[Drie susters twee]]'').
-In April 2013 the [[Rhodes University]] Drama Department devised a stage production entitled ''[[Drifting]]'', performed as tribute to the playwright at the [[Rhodes Theatre]] during Graduation on 4, 6 and 9 April 2013 at 7:00pm. Similar tributes were held at other Universities in South Africa.
+In 2005, de Wet was awarded the [[Fleur du Cap]] for her play ''[[Breathing In]]''.
 The [[Hoër Meisieskool Oranje]] in Bloemfontein named their annual Drama festival after Reza de Wet.

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 ''[[A Worm in the Bud]]'' (1990).
 ''[[Mis]]'' (1993 - English: ''[[Missing]]'')
 ''[[Dialogue]]''* (1994)
 ''[[Drif]]'' (1994 - English: ''[[Drift]]'' and ''[[Crossing]]'')

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 ==Working life==
-De wet started her formal career as actress while still in Bloemfontein, and went on to work as actress and later director for [[PACT]] (including its [[PACT Youth Company]] and [[The Arena Company]]), and the [[Market Theatre]], a period when she met actor and director [[Lindsay Reardon]], who was to become her husband.
+De Wet started her formal career as actress while still in Bloemfontein, and went on to work as actress and later director for [[PACT]] (including its [[PACT Youth Company]] and [[The Arena Company]]), and the [[Market Theatre]], a period when she met actor and director [[Lindsay Reardon]], who was to become her husband.
 When she and her husband moved to Grahamstown, she initially lectured in English department, later joining the Drama department staff, to teach, direct and contribute texts and acting.  In this period she often collaborated with the Drama Department as well as the [[First Physical Theatre Company]], not only writing the scripts for six of the latter company's productions (works [[Gary Gordon]] referred to as "[[danceplays]]"),  but also performing and touring with the company on occasion.

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:57, 7 December 2022
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	=Awards and tributes=		=Awards and tributes=
		+
		+	In 1986 [[Reza de Wet]] was awarded for ''[[Diepe Grond]]'' as the dramatist of the year.

	De Wet was the first playwright, and only the second author, to win the prestigious [[Hertzogprys\|Hertzog Prize]] twice in a row for the same medium (in 1994 for the two collectionjs ''[[Vrystaat-trilogie]]'' and ''[[Trits: Mis, Mirakel, Drif]]'', and 1996 for ''[[Drie susters twee]]'').		De Wet was the first playwright, and only the second author, to win the prestigious [[Hertzogprys\|Hertzog Prize]] twice in a row for the same medium (in 1994 for the two collectionjs ''[[Vrystaat-trilogie]]'' and ''[[Trits: Mis, Mirakel, Drif]]'', and 1996 for ''[[Drie susters twee]]'').

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 [[Tercia Barnard]]. 1997. ''Spel as ekspressie van die rituele in Reza de Wet se Trits''. Unpublished master’s thesis. Stellenbosch: [[University of Stellenbosch]].
-[[Gordon Dickerson]]. 2018. Personal correspondence with [[Temple Hauptfleisch]].
+[[Die Beeld]] 26 June 2001.
 [[Greg Homann]]. 2015.  "Emerging Playwrights and Significant Plays". In: [[Martin Middeke]], [[Peter Paul Schnierer]] and [[Greg Homann]] (editors). ''[[The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary South African Theatre]]''. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
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 [[Shirley Johnston]]. 2018. "''Drifte'' - Discovering the Secrets of Reza de Wet’s Heart". (Draft manuscript, courtesy of the author.)
 [[Marisa Keuris]]. 2018. ''Die spore van ouer Afrikaanse dramaturge en skrywers in Reza de Wet se ''Drif''" (Draft manuscript, courtesy of the author)

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 De Wet's writing was rather enigmatic in its time, a-political, complex and intensely human works in a time of  political turmoil and committed writing which favoured the politically explicit. Each play displays a strong sense of time and place, but is usually set in an earlier time and providing a reflection on the complex issues of being a woman in search of freedom and self-expression in a male-dominated society. In view of their complexity and relevance, it is not surprising that a large number of academic studies of her works have been undertaken over the past 25 years (see the [[ESAT Bibliography]] for example).
-In view of her background and interests, De Wet's work tends to evince a strong literary bias, the structural and stylistic influences on the plays coming from the range of her reading as well as her training in theatre, but the actual theatrical ''form'' used by De Wet is more often than not based on the specific type of theatrical realism[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_(theatre)] developed by the core models she acquired as a student of drama: Anton Chekhov and Antonin Stanislavsky perhaps being the most dominant and exciting examples. Tellingly, this was also the chosen form of most of her [[Afrikaans]] models. However, to accommodate her wide ranging thematic interests (see below), as well as her exposure to and love of a number of alternative performance forms, such as the circus, the troubadour tradition, the Noh drama and various ritual forms, this basic form is often significantly altered and/or enhanced in performance to break out of the confines of the overt form and to provide for more fluidity of time and place.
+In view of her background and interests, De Wet's work tends to evince a strong literary bias, the structural and stylistic influences on the plays coming from the range of her reading as well as her training in theatre, but the actual theatrical ''form'' used by De Wet is more often than not based on the specific type of theatrical realism[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realism_(theatre)] developed by the core models she acquired as a student of drama: Anton Chekhov and Antonin Stanislavski perhaps being the most dominant and exciting examples. Tellingly, this was also the chosen form of most of her [[Afrikaans]] models. However, to accommodate her wide ranging thematic interests (see below), as well as her exposure to and love of a number of alternative performance forms, such as the circus, the troubadour tradition, the Noh drama and various ritual forms, this basic form is often significantly altered and/or enhanced in performance to break out of the confines of the overt form and to provide for more fluidity of time and place.
 These formal aspects become even clearer when one considers the ''content'' of the plays, likewise inspired by her eclectic reading, which tended towards (grotesque) fantasy, Gothic and Victorian literature, the tales of the Brothers Grimm and ultimately magic realism. Her plays therefore have somewhat surreal, almost Gothic, feel at times, with the themes often expressed through a range of additional (non-realist) techniques, such as games, rituals, re-enactment of the past, and role-switching by the performers.  More pertinently, a number of the plays are influenced by, refer to and use characters and/or themes from the works and lives of various literary and theatrical figures. Among the more recognizable of these are Shakespeare, Emily Bronte, Henry James, Henrik Ibsen, Anton Chekhov, J.M. Synge, Eugène O'Neill and [[Athol Fugard]] from the world canon, while the [[Afrikaans]] writers include [[Uys Krige]], [[H.A. Fagan]], [[C. Louis Leipoldt]], [[Eugène Nielen Marais|Eugène Marais]], [[J.F.W. Grosskopf]], [[Alba Bouwer]], [[André Huguenet]] and [[Bartho Smit]], and others. Her exposure to the work of [[Gary Gordon]] and the [[First Physical Theatre Company]] clearly also had an influence on the style of some of her later work.

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 Her first appearances on stage were as schoolgirl for the dramatic society of the school, among which J.M. Barrie's ''[[Quality Street]]'', while her roles as student at the University Drama Department in the Bloemfontein, included "Nina" in ''[[The Seagull]]'',
-She worked as an actress for [[PACT]], including its experimental [[Experimental Youth Group]] (also known as [[The Arena Company]]), led by [[Ken Leach]]. However she also from the start had major roles in main stream productions by the main company. In the experimental company the performers were encouraged to create their own work and to workshop plays. It was here she  met [[Lindsay Reardon]], whom she later married.
+She worked as an actress for [[PACT]], including its experimental [[Experimental Youth Group]] (also known as [[The Arena Company]]), led by [[Ken Leach]]. However she also from the start had major roles in main stream productions by the main company. In the experimental company the performers were encouraged to create their own work and to workshop plays. It was here she  met [[Lindsay Reardon]], whom she later married. Among the plays she appeared in were ''[[Die Hemelbed]]'' (), ''[[Fando and Lis]]'' (), and ''[[Subject to Fits]]'' (Montgomery).
 Reardon followed [[Mannie Manim]] to the [[Market Theatre]] in 1976, and there he would direct Reza and [[Peter Piccolo]] in a production of ''[[Miss Julie]]'' in 1978.

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 De Wet attended the [[University of the Orange Free State]] (1971-1973), completing a B.A. degree in  a English and Drama, ''inter alia'' being trained in Konstantin Stanislaviski's acting techniques under [[Henk Hugo]]. She next went to study for a post graduate performers' diploma in acting at the [[University of Cape Town]]'s Drama Department, led by [[Robert Mohr]]. Mohr considered her a natural Chekhovian actress and cast her in four of his productions of the plays.  She thereafter completed a B.A. Honours in English literature  at the [[University of Cape Town]].
-In 1999 she returned to University to complete her formal studies with an MA in English Literature from the [[University of South Africa]],  with a thesis on ''The Predicament of Contemporary Man as Exemplified in Six Modern Dramas'', supervised by [[Ian Ferguson]].
+She completed her formal studies with an MA in English Literature from the [[University of South Africa]] in 1978,  with a thesis on ''The Predicament of Contemporary Man as Exemplified in Six Modern Dramas'', supervised by [[Ian Ferguson]].
 ==Working life==

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 == Tertiary training ==
-De Wet attended the [[University of the Orange Free State]] (1971-1973), completing a B.A. degree in  a English and Drama at ''inter alia'' being trained in Konstantin Stanislaviski's acting techniques under [[Henk Hugo]] at the newly established Drama Department, followed by a post graduate performers' diploma in acting at the [[University of Cape Town]]'s Drama Department, led by [[Robert Mohr]], who considered her a natural Chekhovian actress and cast her in four of his productions of the plays.  She thereafter completed a B.A. Honours in English literature  at the [[University of Cape Town]].
+De Wet attended the [[University of the Orange Free State]] (1971-1973), completing a B.A. degree in  a English and Drama, ''inter alia'' being trained in Konstantin Stanislaviski's acting techniques under [[Henk Hugo]]. She next went to study for a post graduate performers' diploma in acting at the [[University of Cape Town]]'s Drama Department, led by [[Robert Mohr]]. Mohr considered her a natural Chekhovian actress and cast her in four of his productions of the plays.  She thereafter completed a B.A. Honours in English literature  at the [[University of Cape Town]].
 In 1999 she returned to University to complete her formal studies with an MA in English Literature from the [[University of South Africa]],  with a thesis on ''The Predicament of Contemporary Man as Exemplified in Six Modern Dramas'', supervised by [[Ian Ferguson]].

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 =Awards and tributes=
-De Wet was the first playwright, and only the second author, to win the prestigious [[Hertzogprys|Hertzog Prize]] twice in a row for the same medium (1993, 1996).
+De Wet was the first playwright, and only the second author, to win the prestigious [[Hertzogprys|Hertzog Prize]] twice in a row for the same medium (in 1994 for the two collectionjs ''[[Vrystaat-trilogie]]'' and ''[[Trits: Mis, Mirakel, Drif]]'', and 1996 for ''[[Drie susters twee]]'').
 In April 2013 the [[Rhodes University]] Drama Department devised a stage production entitled ''[[Drifting]]'', performed as tribute to the playwright at the [[Rhodes Theatre]] during Graduation on 4, 6 and 9 April 2013 at 7:00pm. Similar tributes were held at other Universities in South Africa.