Bill Curry

Bill Curry (1931 – ) is an actor, dancer, director and teacher.

Biography

Born William Edward Curry in the Bokaap, Cape Town on 26 March 1931. He studied at Hewat Teacher Training College and in 1957 he travelled to London to study theatre at the Royal School of Speech and Drama.

Because of Apartheid regulations, he was unable to perform professionally on his return to South Africa and so he became a teacher, teaching inter alia at Sunnyside Primary School (1960-62) and in Simonstown.

Contribution to South African theatre, film, media and performance

Perhaps the first star performer from the "coloured" community in the high apartheid years, he became a role model and mentor for many to follow.

As actor

Over the years he had roles in a wide range of local and international plays, for a variety of companies. He started his career in Cape amateur theatre, playing inter alia at the Masque Theatre in Muizenberg and in 1946 he performed in The Tempest in the Cape Town City Hall.

In 1962 he starred in Charlotte Pretorius’s production of Genet’s The Blacks at the Claremont Civic Centre. This non-racial production was part of New Theatre under George Veldsman, founder of The Drama Centre.

In 1964 he played "The Fool" in David Poole’s ballet, The Square, with music by Stanley Glasser, at the Cape Town City Hall. It was produced by the Eoan Group, starring Johaar Mosaval from the Royal Ballet. He also appeared at the Little Theatre in J.B. by Archibald Macleisch.

In 1972 he became one of the foundation members of the newly created Space Theatre, working there for a number of years, and appearing in numerous plays for them, including An Evening with Marcel Proust, Ashes, Balls, The Caretaker, Don't Drink the Water, Dracula, Drivers, Endgame, The Exception and the Rule, A Flea in her Ear, Fortune and Men's Eyes, Futz, The Indian wants the Bronx, Line / It's called the Sugar Plum, The Lonely Giant, Macrune’s Guevara, The Maids, Muzeeka, My Family came over with the Normans, Old King Cole, Patrick Pearse Motel, Picnic on the Battlefield, Rats, The Resistable Rise of Arturo UI, Snow White and the Special Branch, Spike, Superman and Living in Strange Lands (Tsafendas). Die Van Aardes van Grootoor (Pieter-Dirk Uys, 1978).

In 1977 he, Chris Galloway, Dawie Malan, Richard E. Grant and others formed the experimental theatre group, Fringe.

In 1979 he appeared in Info Scandals (Pieter-Dirk Uys, 1979)

In 1980 The Indian wants the Bronx was repeated at the Market Theatre , where he went on to work doing Hennie Aucamp's Met Permissie Gesê (Market Theatre, 198*), Fugard’s A Lesson from Aloes (Market Theatre and Baxter Theatre 1979, Royal National Theatre, London (9 Jul – 16 Aug 1980), Hell is for Whites Only (aka ’’Beyond All Reason’’) (Pieter-Dirk Uys, 1982).

He then became a member of the PACT/TRUK Company, for which he played Filipot in Die Huigelaar (1986); Jean Genet’s The Blacks (1989), Bartho Smit's Die Keiser ( 1992).

Other roles have included Exit the King (as "Berenger"), Deathwatch (as "Green Eyes"), Neighbours (as "The Man"), Don't Drink the Water (as "Kilroy"), A Flea in Her Ear (as "Poche"/"Chandebise"), The Ageing Adolescent (as "Jake Hendrickse"), Adam Small's The Orange Earth, The Gin Game, Fugard’s Boesman and Lena (1993) and People are Living There, (199*).

As director

As director he did The Riddle Machine and, most significantly, in 1981 volunteered his services as director to the recently formed Handspring Puppet Company, for whom he directed The Honey Trail (1981), Kashku Saves the Circus (1982), Mbira for Pasella (1983), The 13 Clocks (1984), The Mouth Trap (1985). These productions toured to schools in South Africa, and to Botswana, Namibia and Swaziland.

Awards

In 1965 won the Three Leaf Award as Best Supporting Actor for “Nickles” in J.B. by Archibald MacLeish. (The awards were later renamed the Fleur du Cap Awards).

Sources

SACD 1978/79; 1979/80

Letter and updated biography from Basil Jones, received 20 July 2015.

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