Pieter-Dirk Uys

Pieter-Dirk Uys (1945-) is a South African actor, director, dramatist, impersonator, comedian, political satirist and author. His personal website describes him as "author, actor and activist". [1]

Biography

Youth

Uys was born in Cape Town on 28 September 1945, went to school and grew up there.

Training

He matriculated from Nassau High School in Mowbray, Cape Town after which he completed a BA degree at the University of Cape Town Drama Department. His university lecturers included Rosalie van der Gucht, Mavis Taylor and Robert Mohr. In the late 1960s and early 1970s he studied at the London Film School [2].

Career

Uys started working as a freelance playwright, actor and stage director in Cape Town in the 1970s. His early plays, like Popcorn (1973), Selle Ou Storie (1974), Pity About People (1974), God's Forgotten (1975) and Karnaval (1975) all premiered at the Space Theatre in Cape Town. Over the years he continued writing, directing and often acting in his own material all over South Africa and abroad. While at film school in London he played a role in drag for the first time, as a milkmaid in an advertising film he produced as a student project and he later became particularly well-known in South Africa for the character Evita Bezuidenhout (also known as Tannie Evita), a white Afrikaner socialite and political activist, which he created and plays himself on stage, television and film. He later settled in Darling, in the Western Cape, where he converted the old, disused, railway station into a cabaret venue called Evita se Perron (perron is Afrikaans for station platform) [3], where he stages productions and performs himself regularly.

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

As a drama student

As a student at UCT Pieter-Dirk Uys (under the name Pieter Uys) played a part in Little Malcolm and his Struggle against the Eunuchs by David Halliwell at the Little Theatre in 1967 with Peter Kruger and Wilson Dunster and directed by Mavis Taylor. While at the London Film School he wrote and produced Faces in the Wall.

Space Theatre in the 1970s

He returned to South Africa to join the Space Theatre as a very active actor, writer and stage director.

Freelancer

After his spell with The Space he became a freelancer in the performing arts in South Africa and abroad. Initially a performer and playwright, he continued to make his name with bilingual realist comedies and tragedies with a strong political message, set in Cape Town. He gradually started focusing on stand-up satires. These include the immensely popular and long running satire Die Van Aardes van Grootoor (lit “The Van Aardes [i.e. ‘those of the earth’] of Big Ear”) at the Baxter Theatre and Market Theatre – where he opened the Laager in 1978, Adapt or Dye (1981), Hell is for Whites Only (1982), Die Vleiroos (“The Marsh Rose”, the first Afrikaans play commissioned for the Grahamstown Festival’s main festival, 1992), No Space on Long Street (a celebration of the Space Theatre, performed in the Baxter in 1997.

Towards the end of the 1970s he began doing impersonations of South African politicians and creating a number of popular characters, the most notable being Evita Bezuidenhout, whose persona became so strong that she finally became Uys’s public alter ego. Evita has had a string of productions of her own, including a TV chat show for a while. (See also: Evita Bezuidenhout).

Over the years Pieter-Dirk Uys has performed a large number of one-man shows, including Farce About Uys, Hell is for Whites Only, Adapt or Dye, One Man, One Volt, Tannie Evita Praat Kaktus, An Audience With Pieter-Dirk Eish! and others.

In 199* he moved to the town of Darling, where he bought the old station and built Evita se Perron (“Evita’s Station Platform”), a small theatre and restarurant complex where he performs regularly. Uys has toured extensively, nationally and internationally, to wide acclaim. He has also recorded and filmed a number of his shows, and has (as Evita) hosted his own TV show. Another facet of his work is the enormous amount of charity and community work he has done to create understanding, tolerance and health awareness. Among the many awards he has received are the Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actor in Waiting for Godot (1980), the Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for Best Leading Actor in Adapt or Dye (1981), ***, ***, *** . In 2000, during their celebration of “women who led us into the 21st century”, the Womens International Center presented Uys with the Living Legacy 2000 Award, for his contribution as “Evita Bezuidenhout”. At the 1989 Grahamstown Festival he was presented with a special award for his contribution to the National Arts Festival and to South African theatre in general by the 1820 Foundation. UYS, Pieter-Dirk. His Pity About People was staged at the Blue Fox in 1975. His Selle ou Storie starring Christine Basson was staged at the Chelsea Theatre in 1975. His bilingual God’s Forgotten, co-starring Christine Basson, Magda Beukes and Lynne Maree was staged at Upstairs at The Market in 1976. He wrote and directed Paradise is Closing Down at Upstairs at the Market in 1978. He was the artistic director of the Laager Theatre upon opening. His Die Van Aardes van Grootoor directed by Dawie Malan and starring himself, Magda Beukes, Johan Botha, Lida Botha, Antoinette Kellermann, Nomsa Nene and Rina Nienaber was the opening production at the Laager in September 1978. He directed Mannie Manim’s production of Larry Gelbart’s Sly Fox starring Patrick Mynhardt, Graham Armitage and Peter J. Elliott for The Company at the Market in 1979. His Die Van Aardes moved into the main theatre at The Market in 1979. His Info Scandals directed by Dawie Malan was staged at The Laager in 1979. Together with his sister, Tessa Uys, and Thoko Ntshinga he starred in Uyscreams with Hot Chocolate Sauce at the Laager in 1980. He starred in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot together with Winston Ntshona and John Kani. It was directed by Donald Howarth and staged at the Baxter and at the Market in 1980 before leaving for the USA and Britain. His Karnaval was directed by Dawie Malan and starred Magda Beukes, Lida Botha, Dale Cutts and Joey de Koker at Upstairs at the Market in 1981. His Adapt or Dye was staged at the Market Café in 1981. His Farce About Uys starring himself, Thoko Ntshinga and Chris Galloway was staged at the Market in June 1983. His The Rise and Fall of the First Empress Bonaparte was staged by PACT, directed by William Egan and starring Jacqui Singer, Ron Smerczak and Michael McCabe was staged at the Alexander in 1983. His Selle ou Storie starring Christine Basson was staged Wits University Theatre in 1983. His Beyond the Rubicon was staged at the Market in September 1986. He co-presented Panorama with Basil Rubin at the Alexander in 1987. He presented Rearranging the Deck Chairs on the S.A. Bothatanic with Chris Galloway in 1987 and in December of the same year they joined forces again in Uys’ Cry Freemandela – The Movie. His Just Like Home was the opening production of the newly refurbished Laager in 1989. His Scorched Earth was staged in 1989. Janice Honeyman directed him in A Kiss on Your Koeksister at the Warehouse in 1990. He starred in and wrote the satire An Evening with Evita Bezuidenhout which was staged during the festive season in 1990. A reworking of Paradise is Closing Down saw Uys starring together with Chris Galloway at the Wits University in 1992. His The Poggenpoel Sisters was staged in 1993. His One Man, One Volt was staged in April 1994. * Same Old Story (2004) Darling: The Pieter-Dirk Uys Story by Pieter-Dirk Uys. A film. First produced in 2007 dir: Julian Shaw (www.darlingmovie.com.au)