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 for a few years.

After a time in London and Europe, he worked in the city administration of Pretoria's health department, later being appointed secretary to the Mayor, while doing part-time acting and directing, before registering for a B.A. in Drama at the University of Pretoria, completing his studies in 1976.

In this period he and Pieter Brand 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 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.

He later moved to Pinetown, Natal, where he lived with family members and 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 influential

While working as a male nurse in Port Elizabeth, he became involved with the Port Elizabethse Afrikaanse Amateur Toneelvereniging (PEAAT) in Port Elizabeth, both as a director and performer. Among the plays he directed for them were Jean Cocteau's Die Dubbele Adelaar (October, 1969),

For Dinkteater he directed 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 by Ionesco (Exit the King), Cristofer (The Shadow Box) 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*).

For PACOFS he 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.

He translated and adapted plays such as The Duchess of Malfi, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore and The Shadow Box into Afrikaans.

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

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