Francois Swart
Francois Swart (1938-1994) was a highly regarded actor and director.
His first name sometimes written in the French style as François Swart.
Contents
Biography
Possessed of a superbly resonant voice, he trained under Elizabeth Sneddon at the Department of Speech and Drama at the University of Natal
He died of cancer at the age of fifty-six in January 1994.
Career
Swart started out as an actor, but gradually turned to directing and developed into one of the finest directors the country has ever seen. Probably his period of most impact was his stint as Artistic Director at PACT between 1972 and 1978, when he not only put on marvellous productions of local and international plays, but specifically guided an inspired PACT Afrikaans company and the budding new playwrights of the time (e.g. Bartho Smit, André P. Brink Chris Barnard, P.G. du Plessis) to what is still considered by many to be the first golden age of Afrikaans theatre.
He ended his career with a short stint as Professor of Drama at Rhodes University (198*-198*), a time during which he trained and mentored a number of leading performers and authors, notably playwrights Reza de Wet and Deon Opperman.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
As actor
He starred in the PACT production Hamlet which was staged at the Civic Theatre in 1964. It was directed by Margaret Inglis and also starred Reinet Maasdorp, Joan Blake and Joe Stewardson in 1964.
Was cast as a young Germanicus in the 19** NTO production of N.P. van Wyk Louw’s epic tragedy. Other major roles for NTO and PACT include **, **,
He starred in Leonard Schach’s production of Shaw’s Heartbreak House for PACT at the Alexander Theatre in 1967. It also starred Siegfried Mynhardt, Alec Bell, Elizabeth Meyer, Kerry Jordan, Joan Blake, Frank Lazarus and Maggie Soboil.
He played the Cardinal in Die Hamer van die Hekse (1975).
As director
Stage director
He won best director for his direction of P.G. du Plessis’s Siener in die Suburbs starring Marius Weyers and Sandra Prinsloo which was stage by PACT in 1971.
In 1972 PACT/TRUK, under directorship of Swart, staged Shakespeare’s Richard III directed by Ken Leach, John Guare’s The House of Blue Leaves, directed by Taubie Kushlick, John Hussey’s production of the Peter Shaffer double bill Black Comedy and White Liars with Ruth Oppenheim and Eckard Rabe and Truida Louw’s Afrikaans production of Schiller’s Maria Stuart, all of which took place at the Alexander Theatre.
His inspired direction of Du Plessis’s record breaking tragedy Siener in die Suburbs made him, the playwright and the cast household names. He directed Molière’s Tartuffe which was staged at the Alexander Theatre in 1973, Plaston: DNS-Kind (1974), 'n Seder val in Waterkloof (1975), he directed Sandra Prinsloo in an Afrikaans translation of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler for PACT in 1974 PACT staged his Afrikaans production of Othello with Louis van Niekerk, Sandra Prinsloo and Marius Weyers in 1975, he directed PACT’s production of Simon Gray’s Butley with Michael McCabe at the Alexander Theatre in 1977,
In 1979 he directed the following plays for PACT: Terence Rattigan’s Ross ([1]) with Michael McCabe for PACT, Schlengemann’s Die Drie Van Der Walts starring Don Lamprecht, Wilna Snyman and Errol Ross, John Pank’s Windmills of the Mind with Kerry Jordan, Michael McCabe, John Hussey and Bobby Heaney and Becket of die Eer van God (Anouilh) with Marius Weyers and Franz Marx.
Wilna Snyman speel Anastasia, Die Vroue van Troje, Hamlet. Francois Swart (dir) First Monday in October, 1980, CAPAB. (First English role). Theodora, 1981, Staatsteater, Pta.
Die Vasvat van 'n Feeks (198*), Look Back in Anger (1986), Mary Stuart (1987), *** and ***.
1966: Die Italiaanse Strooihoed (PACT)
1966: The Beaux Stratagem (PACT)
1969: Die Drie Van Der Walts (PACT)
1970: A Winter Vacation (PACT)
1972: Ampie Oppie Diekens (PACT)
1979: Die Drie Van Der Walts (PACT)
1980: Die Drie Van Der Walts (PACT)
1981: Germanicus (PACT)
1982: Die Leeu in die Winter (PACT)
1982: Monday After the Miracle (PACT)
1985: Don Juan onder die Boere (PACOFS)
1985: Bloedbruilof (PACOFS)
1986: Don Juan onder die Boere (PACT)
1987: Look Back in Anger PACT
1987: Hamlet in Afrikaans PACT
1989: As You Like It PACT
1989: Camelot (PACT with PACOFS and NAPAC)
1990: Koning Lear (PACT)
1990: My Fair Lady (PACT with PACOFS and NAPAC)
1991: Brigadoon (Pretoria State Theatre)
1992: Death and the King’s Horseman (PACT)
1993: A Delicate Balance (PACT)
Film director
Primarily a stage director, Swart made only two essays into film directing, starting out with a filmed version of his iconic production of Siener in die Suburbs in 1973 and followed by Skadu's van Gister (1974).
Awards
He won best director for his direction of P.G. du Plessis’s Siener in die Suburbs starring Marius Weyers and Sandra Prinsloo which was staged by PACT in 1971
Sources
Tucker, 1997.
Various entries in the NELM catalogue.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4820504/
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2141933/?ref_=nm_knf_t_1
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