Mark Hoeben

HOEBEN, Mark (12 Dec. 1959-) Bilingual actor for stage radio and TV, dancer, choreographer and director.

Biography

Born in Cape Town, schooled at St Josephs’s College, attended the University of Cape Town (BSc degree in Maths, Geography and English 1978-1980), before doing a Performer’s Diploma at UCT (1985). Also advanced ballroom and Latin-American dancer and teacher.

Training

Performer’s Diploma at UCT (1985).

Career

Contracted as actor at CAPAB 1986-1989. In the early 1990s he left for London for a while, working as dance instructor to earn his keep. Returned in 1994 to take up free-lance acting and give dance classes in Cape Town. In 1998 he left theatre to concentrate on dance, particularly the tango. However this led him back to the theatre with plays about dance (e.g. Tango del Fuego). In this period he began organising the Cape Town Festival of Social Dance Displays and Tango Salons and became a member of the Cape Heart Community and Educational Theatre Company, devising, directing and acting in Shakespeare programmes for schools.

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

Leading roles over the years include The Good Soldier Svejk, Ubu Roi, Ghetto (19*), Anatomie Titus Fall of Rome (Heiner Muller - 1986), Gulls (manipulated puppets - 1987/1988). Measure for Measure, Maynardville (1987), The Seagull (Chekov -1987), Piekniek by Dingaan (Le Toit, Kerkorrel, et al. - 1988), People Say that Steven Weed…(** - 198*), The Hunting of the Snark (1991), Wuthering Heights (1992), I Dance Alone (Hoeben, 1994), Take the Floor (Sue Pam-Grant, D.J Grant and Mark Hoeben, 1994), Greek (1996), Tango del Fuego (Hoeben, Ina Wichterich, Marthinus Basson, 2001), Iklips (2002), Faust (2003), Maria de Buenos Aires (Piazzola and Ferrer - 2003-4), Breathing In (Reza de Wet - 2004), **. Directing ventures include Dead White – A History (1988), **. Choreography/dancing includes Kings of Rok (Drin, 1986), Piekniek by Dingaan (1988), Cream Passions (1988), ** , I Do Times 22 (Fleishman and **, 1997), Tango del Fuego, Maria de Buenos Aires, *.

As a freelance actor he played in The Bergvliet Murder Mystery, From My Point of View and Heiner Müller's Macbeth.

He has directed a number of schools tours to tour the Western Cape in the 1990s.

Awards, etc

Among the acting awards he has been nominated for and won are the Fleur du Cap Theatre Award as Most Promising Student (1986), Best Supporting Actor for Hond se Gedagte (1989), Greek (1996), I Do Times 22 (1997), ** Tonight/FNB Award for Comedy for Take the Floor (1994)

Sources

Tucker, 1997.

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