Uys Krige

KRIGE, Uys (Mattheus Uys, 1910-1987) Bilingual Afrikaans and English poet, playwright, novelist and prolific translator, sportsman, journalist and gregarious conversationalist. Born in Swellendam, Cape Province, the son of the novelist and essayist Sannie Krige?*. Trained in literature at theUniversity of Stellenbosch, then became a journalist. ****??? Then spent a considerable time in Europe, where he was a correspondent during the Spanish Civil War, was later captured during WWII, only to escape from his Italian Prisoner-of-War camp. Returned to become a freelance writer. Married to actress Lydia Lindeque in 1937, had * children. Divorced in 1944. Finally Krige settled in Onrusrivier as one of the founding members of an artists' colony there, where he died in 1987. Warer is a dominant theme in much of his writing. While some of his work was originally written in English, notably the full-length play The Two Lamps (1964) and the two autobiographical accounts The Way Out (1947) and Orphan of the Desert (1967), Krige is known primarily for his Afrikaans poetry, his Afrikaans translations of verse and plays from especially French and Spanish, and his Afrikaans one-act plays (most of which he himself also translated into English) and some of his full-lenth work. His In 1938 he won the playwrighting competition organised in 1938 by the Krugersdorp Municipal Dramatic and Operatic Society (KMDOS) for the Centennial celebrations of the Great Trek, with his full length play Magdalena Retief (19**). His other plays include Alle paaie lei na Rome (All Roads Lead to Rome ) (19*), **, Die Grootkanonne, (The Big Shots) (19*), Die Arrestasie (The Arrest), Fuente Sagrada, Die Skerpskutter (The Sniper), Die Ryk Weduwee ("The Rich Widow" - perf. 1953) and. ***. A fine and prolific translator, he translated a number of his own one act plays into English himself (published in two collections by HAUM in 1964, namely The Sniper and other one-act plays and The Two Lamps). His many translations from English and other European languages include Shakespeare’s Twaalfde Nag (Twelfth Night), Koning Lear (King Lear) , Die Vasvat van ‘n Feeks??** (The Taming of a Shrew)**. He also translated Spanish and French plays, including Lorca's Die Huis van Bernarda Alba (The House of Bernarda Alba), Yerma, and ***, and Anouilh's ***, **, **. On occasion acted as adjudicator for the FATSSA Play Festival. In 2002?** J.C. Kannemeyer published a biography on Krige, called Die Goue Seun (The Golden Boy) and in the same year an immensely successful biopic-play (Die Goue Seun), based on the book and Krige's works, was produced by his niece, the actress Grethe Fox and directed by Marthinus Basson. Was awarded the Hertzog Prize for translation in 19**?, the Hertzog Prize for Drama in 1974.

KRIGE, Uys. Poet and Playwright. JAATS managed to secure the rights to premiere his Die Goue Kring at the Library for their Festival production in 1956. PACT’s Afrikaans company staged his Die Ryk Weduwee in 1967. He wrote an Afrikaans version of King Lear which was staged at the Pretoria State Theatre and the Civic in 1990. *** ( (See Du Toit, 1988, Tucker, 1997) [TH, JH]

KRIGE, Uys, sy Voortrekkereeufeesstuk: Magdalena Retief, 1938/39.

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