Wilma Stockenström (1933-) [1] is a South African actress, poet, novelist and playwright.

BEING EDITED

(Also credited in some cases as Wilma Kirsipuu.)

Biography

Born in Napier in the Overberg district of South Africa on 7 August 1933. Her parents were both participants in amateur theatre in the town. She completed high school there in 1949 and then went to Stellenbosch University, where obtained a BA (Drama) in 1952, having studied speech, oratory and stagecraft with Robert Mohr.

She began her working life by working as a radio announcer in Cape Town for a year, before moving to Pretoria in 1954. In the same year she married Ants Kirsipuu , an Estonian by birth and a linguist and translator by trade. There she worked as a translator for a while, while also beginning to write poetry, and embarking on what would become a major career as an author and translator. At the same time she continued performing, inter alia for amateur companies (e.g. Volksteater), some of the the state run professional companies (initially NTO in the late 1950s early 1960s, and after their founding, also for PACT and CAPAB) and for the Space Theatre and Market Theatre.

For a while in 1966 she was also the theatre documentarian for PACT.

In 1993 she and Ants moved to Cape Town, where her husband passed away in 2003. She has continued living in Cape Town since then.

Her career as writer

Her very first piece of writing was in fact a short play, written while she was still in primary school, followed by few poems published in the periodical Wurm. Thereafter she concentrated on plays and the theatre for a while (see below), before turning to poetry in the late 1960s, producing her first collection, of poems Vir Die Bysiende Leser ("for the short-sighted reader"), published in 1970 by Reijger Uitgewers.

This turned out to be the beginnings of a most remarkable career as a highly regarded poet and later novelist, leading to a number of prestigious awards, including the Hertzog Prize for poetry (1977) and for prose (1991), as well as the SALA Literary Lifetime Award (2008).

However, she also gradually returned to freelance acting in the 1970s and began translating plays for use by theatre companies. Like her early plays, most of her translations have not been published, though many have been performed.

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

After finishing her studies, and a year as radio announcer for the SABC in Cape Town, she moved Pretoria in 1954. There she had an initial period of theatre activity with NTO in the 1950s then , gradually She returned to freelance acting in the 1970s, inter alia working for the Space Theatre in Cape Town. Over the years she developed a good reputation as a reliable character actress, working on stage as well as in film and TV. In addition she began translating plays for use by theatre companies. Like her early plays, most of her translations have not been published, though many have been performed.

As a playwright

Her first piece of writing, the unnamed short play written while she was still in primary school, was followed by two one-act plays, Katlagters ("Babblers") and Op deurreis ("passing through"), published in Wurm and Contrast (two the literary magazines of the time). Then came Dawid die dik dom kat ("Dawid the Fat Dumb Cat", a children's play) and Trippens se patatta, ("Thrupenny's worth of sweet potato", billed a "fairytale for adults"), which were both published as playscripts by DALRO (the Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation).

However, it was with the 1978 publication and subsequent production of her last play, Die Laaste Middagmaal ("The last midday meal"), that she gained serious attention as a dramatist. Probably her best known play, the work was the joint winner of the one-act play competition announced by The Space in 1972/3 (the other winner being Sheila Roberts’s My Weekend, Too). The play was performed by the Space in that period and the text was published by Taurus Publishers in 1978.

As translator

Though she does not seem to have written any further original plays, she did comnine her linguistic skilla and her theatre experience to emerge as a very competent translator of play texts, responsible for fine Afrikaans translations of inter alia Lappies die Lappiesmous by Aad Greidanus, (Dalro, 1968), Professor Poffel en Professor Moffel by Erik Vos (Dalro, 1971), Andorra (with her husband, Ants Kirsipuu), Leonce en Lena, Die Dans van die Reier, Die Paradysboot, WAM (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) and (with Schalk Jacobsz) the film script for Die Besoeker (an Afrikaans version of Athol Fugard's script for The Guest, Ad Donker, 1977),

As a stage actress

With a good founding in the classical style training prevalent at the time from Robert Mohr, she established herself as a fine character actress, appearing in a variety of productions for amateur groups, state funded theatre companies and a range of independent theatre companies over the course of her career. Beginning her professional career in Hugo Claus’s 'n Bruid in die Môre ("A Bride in the Morning") for NTO, she went on to appear in numerous stage plays, including Ionesco’s The Chairs, Rip van Winkle, The Chairs, Agt Vroue, Ampie oppie diekens, Die Verhoor, Hedda Gabler, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-moon Marigolds, God’s Forgotten, Taraboemdery, Saterdag, Sondag, Maandag and Barney Simon’s production of Fugard’s Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act (opposite Vivian Solomons) at the Market Theatre in 1979.

As a film and TV actress

Stockenström soon developed into an excellent film and television actress, managing to achieve another kind of fame for her appearances in productions such as Manakwalanners, Hoggenheim (Edms.) Bpk. ("Hoggenheim Pty Ltd."), The Guest (Afrikaans: Die besoeker, 1977) – Athol Fugard’s drama on the life of the Afrikaans author, scientist and morphinist Eugène N. Marais – for which she was awarded the Rapport-Oscar. Die Perdesmous ("The Horse Trader"; 1982), Verspeelde lente ("Lost Spring"; 1983), Die storie van Klara Viljee (The Story of Klara Viljee; 1992), Friends (1993), and Promised Land (2002), which is based on Karel Schoeman’s homonymous novel. The Guest (Afrikaans: Die besoeker, 1977) – Athol Fugard’s drama on the life of the Afrikaans author, scientist and morphinist Eugène N. Marais – for which she was awarded the Rapport-Oscar.

Film and TV roles include:

197* – Vlug van die Seemeeu (TV series)

1975 - Liesbeth slaap uit

197* - Die koster

1977 – Die besoeker/The Guest: An episode in the Life of Eugène Marais as "Tant Corrie" (this was a highlight, for which she received the Rapport- Oscar).

1982 - Die Perdesmous ("The Horse Trader"; 1982)

1983 – Verspeelde Lente (TV series), as "Griet le Roux"

1990 – The Fourth Reich as "Mrs. Engelbrecht"

1992 – Die Storie van Klara Viljee as "Miss Lizzie Sauer"

1993 – Friends as "Iris"

1993 - Die Manakwalanners (TV series) as "Lenie Strauss"

1993 – Djadje – Last Night I Fell Off a Horse

2002 – Promised Land as "Mart".

Awards, etc

She is one of a handful of writers to have won the Hertzog Prize in two different categories. She won it first for poetry in 1977 and then for fiction in 1991.

She has been awarded:

1977: Hertzog Prize for Poetry for Van vergetelheid en van glans.

1984: CNA Award, Louis Luyt Prize and the Old Mutual Prize for Monsterverse.

1988: Grinzane Cavour Prize for Spedizione al Baobab.

1991: W.A. Hofmeyr Award and Hertzog Prize (for prose) for Abjater Wat So Lag.

2008: SALA Literary Lifetime Award.

2015: Receives a Fiësta-toekenning ("Fiësta award"), a lifetime award in recognition of her contribution to South African theatre and verbal art.