Marjorie Burger
(18*-19*) Comic impersonator and mimic. ** She lived and worked in the Cape Town area, performing inter alia in the Cape Town City Hall, but became nationally known and popular through her radio broadcasts and numerous recordings for Columbia records of her impersonations. These include sketches on a "Cape Coloured" character called "Kaatje Kekkelbek" (based on texts written by W.Versfeld), with titles such as Kaatje bel die loodgieter op ("Kaatje phones the plumber"), Kaatje ontvang 'n foonboodskap ("Kaatje receives a phone call") and Kaatje saai uit ("Kaatje does a broadcast"). She also wrote many sketches herself, based on everyday characters such as Kombuisgeklets ("Kitchen chats"), Die nuuskierige ou man ("the inquisitive old man"), Die nuuskierige ou vrou ("the inquisitive old woman") and so on. While she was very popular there was some criticism about her "denigrating" the Afrikaans language, reinforcing the idea that it is a "kitchen language".
Sources
Go to South African Theatre/Bibliography
Return to
Return to ESAT Personalities B
Return to South African Theatre Personalities
Return to The ESAT Entries
Return to Main Page