P.G. du Plessis (1934-2017) was a multi-talented academic, author and journalist. His career included stints as lecturer, director of a research institute, journalist and newspaper editor, humorist, novelist and short-story writer, television personality and chat-show host, scriptwriter and film- and TV producer, and award-winning Afrikaans playwright.

Biography

Born Pieter Georg du Plessis on 14 July 1934 in Boshof in the Free State. He matriculated at the Hoër Volkskool in Heidelberg. In 1955 he obtained a BA degree in Afrikaans-Nederlands Afrikaans Nederlandsand history at the University of Pretoria. Studied at the Universities of Pretoria and the Witwatersrand. Started as a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, working with N.P. van Wyk Louw, then became Director of the Institute for Languages, Literature and Arts at the newly founded Human Sciences Research Council. Under his guidance the Institute established the four Documentation Centres for Art, Afrikaans Literature, Music and Theatre (the latter headed by P.P.B. Breytenbach). Hereafter he turned to journalism (editor of the Pretoria daily newspaper Oggendblad), film-production (he founded the production company Sommatel) and farming on his farm Semoer in the Western Transvaal.

He began his writing career with a few published poems, then in 1969 - inspired by his mentor, N.P. van Wyk Louw, he turned to theatre and produced his first play, Die Nag van Legio, soon followed by five more major works, thus establishing himself as the most commanding playwright of his generation.

In the 1980s he became a much beloved TV personality, famous for his storytelling ability in programmes such as Spies en Plessie and Maak 'n Las, and his talent as interviewer of notable personalities with P.G. Gesels Met.

However his most important impact was as a writer. He wrote numerous poems, plays, short stories, novels, film and TV scripts over the years. Towards the end of his life, much was made of Fees van die Ongenooides , his unforgettable TV series on the Anglo-Boer War, and more significantly the gripping novel of the same name, but for many critics the handful of profound plays which exerted the most telling influence on South African literature.

He passed away on 7 June 2017 aged 82.

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

His writing

Stage plays

Started his playwriting career with the profound Die Nag van Legio (1969), followed by the influential, controversial and hugely successful: Siener in die Suburbs (1971). Next came the immensely popular Mattewis en Meraai (a dramatisation of a series of stories by Mikro), then Plaston: DNS-Kind, 'n Seder Val in Waterkloof and Vereeniging, Vereniging. After this he turned to prose and television, creating the enormously popular series entitled Koöperasiestories in both media. Also wrote other television texts and film scripts, which include ****. After many years he returned to the stage in 1999 with a play called **** which was produced at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees.

He wrote Siener in die Suburbs which was staged by PACT in 1971. It starred Marius Weyers and Sandra Prinsloo and was directed by Francois Swart. François Swart’s production of his 'n Seder val in Waterkloof starring Johan Malherbe, Annette Engelbrecht, Don Lamprecht, Franz Marx and Wilna Snyman was a huge success for PACT in 1975. The Academy hosted the [[Baxter Theatre production of Seer in the Suburbs, the English translation of du Plessis’ Siener in die Suburbs starring Dale Cutts, Trudie Taljaard, Bo Petersen and Marcel van Heerden in 1981. [TH]

2004 Nagkantoor, a tribute to the Afrikaans singer-composer Koos du Plessis. P.G. du Plessis wrote the script, directed by Sandra Prinsloo.

2011 Onderweg A stage version of Afrikaans singer, composer and playwright Jannie du Toit's autobiography, with text by P.G du Plessis, directed by Emma Bekker.

Screenplays

TV plays and series

Prose

He started as a prose writer with his renowned and beloved Koöperasiestories, serialized in Die Transvaler from 1980 onwards - short, tragi-comic and intensely human stories of life in a small town. (They were later reworked for television, gaining an enormous following). Followed over the years by more story collections in a similar vein, including Hier sit die Manne (1883), Het Olifante Elmboë? (1987), Neklis (1993) and Tussen die Riwwe (1997).

Du Plessis also wrote two novels: The Married Man's Guide to Adultery (1998), his only attempt to write in English, and what is now considered by many to be his ultimate achievement in prose, Fees van die Ongenooides (later also translated and published in English as The Feast of the Uninvited) - a monumental work about the Anglo-Boer War. It had started out as TV series, and was expanded as a novel in 200*.

Awards etc.

He was awarded the Hertzog Prize for Drama in 1972, especially for Siener in die Suburbs but also with the consideration of Die Nag van Legio. His