Paul Savage

Paul Savage (19**-). Actor, director.

Training

He studied drama at UCT Drama School and the Community Arts Project and completed an Arts Council of England directing course at the Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham and the New Vic Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, in October 2000.

Career

Paul worked as an actor in South Africa for a while. After the production of Just Like Home at Edinburgh Festival and its transfer to London in 1989, he stayed in England where he worked for 18 years as an actor and director. In this time he performed in Kat and the Kings during their run in the West End. Other productions include performing in The Ramayana at the Birmingham Rep and the National Theatre (200-2001) and Truth in Translation, (directed by Michael Lessac, 2007).

After 15 years in England he now divides his time working in South Africa and England.

In 2000 he completed an Arts Council of England directing bursary attached to the Midlands Arts Centre (Mac) in Birmingham and the New Vic Theatre , Stoke on Trent . The bursary was extended to include the production of The Ramayana at the Birmingham Rep and the National Theatre ending in 2001. In 2002 he was invited to continue his training as a director at the National Theatre of England and in 2003 he represented England at the European cultural conference for directors in Russia .

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

In 1984 he appeared in a University of Cape Town Drama Department production of Die Van Aardes van Grootoor.

Paul worked as an actor in South Africa for a while, appearing in Michael Williams’s Savages, (National Arts Festival 1984) and most notably playing Nines (the lead) in District Six – The Musical by David Kramer and Taliep Petersen and then, in 1989, Trevor in Just Like Home by Pieter-Dirk Uys.

He returned to the Baxter Theatre Centre in 2004 to perform in Adam Small's Kanna hy kô Hystoe as Jakob, the street preacher, his first time on a stage in six years.

He assisted in directing a Swedish co-production of Lara Foot-Newton’s play Reach for the Baxter Theatre and The Regina Theatre in Sweden and later that year he directed a UK tour of Woza Albert which was a co-production between Mac in Birmingham (UK) and the South African State Theatre.

He was seen in Chris van Wyk’s play Shirley, Goodness and Mercy (2007) at the Baxter Theatre and Market Theatre.

In 2008 he directed Echoes/Eggos by Royston Stoffels.

Film work includes Leon Schuster's Mama Jack.

In 2012 Paul was one of the judges for the NLDTF/PANSA Festival of Reading of New Writing.