Philip Rademeyer

Philip Rademeyer (1986- ) is a South African theatre writer, director and academic. He also writes poetry.

Training

He holds an Honours degree in Drama from the University of Cape Town, a Bachelor's degree in Psychology and Theatre from Ohio Wesleyan University, and a Master’s in Theatre and Performance (Directing) at the University of Cape Town, with his research focussing on developing a queer directorial aesthetic.

Career

He is currently (2019) a part-time lecturer in at the University of Cape Town Drama Department.

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

In 2012 he co-founded the award-winning Cape Town-based theatre collective, Rust Co-Operative, with Penelope Youngleson. In its first year the co-operative produced four new plays - The View, Expectant, An(t)oniem and Lie - with two new plays, Full Stops on Your Face and Tee, premiering in 2013.

He also wrote the play Ashes, published in 2016.

As director responsible for Soebatsfontein (2018),

His work has been performed at theatres and festivals across South Africa and has been awarded with several awards. He is responsible for adaptations of Elsa Joubert’s Spertyd and Zirk van den Berg’s Ek Wens, Ek Wens, as well as new scripts like Huishou and As. He previously wrote for radio and television and made his film debut as director of the feature film Skemerson.

Awards, etc.

In February 2013 Rademeyer was nominated for a Fleur du Cap Award, the Rosalie van der Gucht Prize for New Directors; for The View. In May 2013 he won the Oscar Wilde Award for Best New Writing for The View at the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, where the piece also won the Doric Wilson Intercultural Dialogue Award.

In 2014 his play Siembamba won a silver Ovation Award and was nominated for a Fleur du Cap in 2015.

His plays Opdrifsel (2020) and Klippe Wat Val (2019) won the ATKV-Woordveertjie for Best Drama Script. Klippe Wat Val/Wild was published as a volume of work by Protea Boekhuis and made the shortlist for the 2021 Hertzog Prize for Drama.

His play, Ontbaar, was showcased at Teksmark 2023.