Graham Weir
Graham Weir (19**-2020) Actor, singer, playwright.
Contents
Biography
Born in Scotland, Weir came to South Africa at the age of 5, when his parents settled in Benoni on the East Rand. His sister is the actress and singer Christine Weir. The Weir siblings had their initial exposure to stage performance with the musical evenings regularly held at their home and the amateur theatre company founded by his parents. His first stage role was in Oliver Twist for this group.
Graham studied for a year at Wits Drama school and some time at Pretoria Technikon. Then he went to England to dodge the draft, before returning to work in theatre in a variety of capacities.
Graham passed away in Cape Town of a stroke on 1 December, 2020.
Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance
He began his career as a performer with PACT in 1981, later becoming a free-lance artist.
In 1985 he and his sister founded the hugely successful a cappella group Not the Midnight Mass, which also featured Jenny de Lenta, Alan Glass and Graham Clarke.
His numerous stage appearances as actor have included roles in The Dybbuk 1986, Macbeth (as "Ross", 1996), The Winter's Tale (Maynardville.
Roles in musical productions include shows like Jesus Christ Superstar (Durban Playhouse, 1991), Sweeney Todd, Queen at the Opera, The Shakespeare Revue (1997)
During the course of his 40 year long career he wrote, directed and performed in a number of his own plays and musical pieces, among them Tales from a Dark Corner, Letters from Patient Essop (Baxter Theatre, 19**), Psychedelic Cowboy (Baxter Theatre, 19**), Sister Nun (Baxter, 19**), Jesus hopped the A-train (Baxter Theatre, 19**), How Graham Weir Accidentally Managed to Stay Alive (Kalk Bay Theatre, 2005), Noah (with Megan Choritz), Artscape New Writer’s Programme 2005, Songs of Hangings and Redemptions (directed by Megan Choritz, Kalk Bay Theatre, 2006), Dead Yellow Sands (2016).
As a film actor he appeared in Boesman and Lena () and Spud, and on television in the MNet series Hotel (as "Oom Dirk"), Of Kings and Prophets () and Jamillah and Aladdin ().
Awards, etc
The 1993-1994 National Vita Award for Best Playwright was awarded to him for Brief Descriptions II and he received two Fleur du Cap Awards, one for Not the Midnight Mass in 2009 and a second in 2016 for Dead Yellow Sands.
Sources
The Dybbuk programme, 1986.
"Akteur Graham Weir sterf skielik", Die Burger 2 December, 2020 (P. 3)
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