Wilma Stockenström

Wilma Stockenström (1933-) [1] is a South African actress, poet, novelist and playwright.

(Also credited in some cases as Wilma Kirsipuu.)

Biography

Born in Napier in the Overberg district of South Africa on 7 August 1933, she completed high school there in 1949 and then went to Stellenbosch University, where obtained a BA (Drama) in 1952, having studied speech, oratory and stagecraft with Robert Mohr.

She began her working life by working as a radio announcer in Cape Town for a year, before moving to Pretoria in 1954. There she married Ants Kirsipuu, an Estonian by birth and a linguist and translator by trade. For a while she worked as a translator, while also beginning to write poetry, and embarking on what would become a major career as an author and translator.

In 1993 she and Ants moved to Cape Town, where her husband passed away in 2003. She has continued living in Cape Town since then.

Her career as writer

Her very first piece of writing was in fact a short play, written while she was still in primary school, followed by few poems published in the periodical Wurm. Thereafter she concentrated on plays and the theatre for a while (see below), before turning to poetry in the late 1960s, producing her first collection, of poems Vir Die Bysiende Leser ("for the short-sighted reader"), published in 1970 by Reijger Uitgewers.

This turned out to be the beginnings of a most remarkable career as a highly regarded poet and later novelist, leading to a number of prestigious awards, including the Hertzog Prize for poetry (1977) and for prose (1991), as well as the SALA Literary Lifetime Award (2008).

However, she also gradually returned to freelance acting in the 1970s and began translating plays for use by theatre companies. Like her early plays, most of her translations have not been published, though many have been performed.

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

She gradually returned to freelance acting in the 1970s, developing into a reliable character actress on stage, film and TV. In addition she began translating plays for use by theatre companies. Like her early plays, most of her translations have not been published, though many have been performed.

As a playwright

Her first piece of writing, the unnamed short play written while she was still in primary school, was followed by two one-act plays, Katlagters ("Babblers") and Op deurreis ("passing through"), published in Wurm and Contrast (two the literary magazines of the time). After that she wrote the children's plays Dawid die dik dom kat ("Dawid the Fat Dumb Cat") and Trippens se patatta, ("Thrupenny's worth of sweet potato"), which were both published as playscripts by DALRO (The Dramatic, Artistic and Literary Rights Organisation).

However, it was with the 1978 publication and subsequent production of her last play, Die Laaste Middagmaal ("The last midday meal"), that she gained serious attention as a dramatist. Probably her best known play, the work was the joint winner of the one-act play competition announced by The Space in 1972/3 (the other winner being Sheila Roberts’s My Weekend, Too). The play was performed by the Space in that period and the text was published by Taurus in 1978.

As translator

Though she does not seem to have written any further original plays, she did emerge as a very competent translator, responsible for fine Afrikaans translations of inter alia Lappies die Lappiesmous by Aad Greidanus, (Dalro, 1968), Professor Poffel en Professor Moffel by Erik Vos (Dalro, 1971), Andorra (with her husband, Ants Kirsipuu), Leonce en Lena, Die Dans van die Reier, Die Paradysboot, WAM (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) and (with Schalk Jacobsz) the film script for Die Besoeker (an Afrikaans version of Athol Fugard's script for The Guest, Ad Donker, 1977),

As a stage actress

She played parts in a variety of productions, including Hugo Claus’s Bruid in die môre ("A Bride in the Morning"), Ionesco’s The Chairs, and Chekhov’s Drie susters ("Three Sisters").

She went on to work as a freelance actress for The Space Theatre ** and **. Among her key performances were in God's Forgotten (Pieter-Dirk Uys, 1976), Strike Up the Banned (Pieter-Dirk Uys, 1976), **. She played in 'n Bruid in die Môre, The Chairs and Drie Susters directed by Robert Mohr. She starred in Barney Simon’s production of Fugard’s Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act together with Vivian Solomons at the Market Theatre in 1979.

She has also appeared in Agt Vroue, Hedda Gabler, The Seagull, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-moon Marigolds, Ampie Oppie Diekens, Saterdag, Sondag, Maandag.

As a film and TV actress

Stockenström developed into an excellent film and television actress, managing to achieve another kind of fame for her appearances in productions such as Manakwalanners, Hoggenheim Edms Bpk ("Hoggenheim Pty Lt."), The Guest (Afrikaans: Die besoeker, 1977) – Athol Fugard’s drama on the life of the Afrikaans author, scientist and morphinist Eugène N. Marais – for which she was awarded the Rapport-Oscar. This was followed by Die perdesmous (The Horse Trader; 1982), Verspeelde lente (Lost Spring; 1983), Die storie van Klara Viljee (The Story of Klara Viljee; 1992), Friends (1993), and Promised Land (2002), which is based on Karel Schoeman’s homonymous novel.

Film and TV roles include:

1972 – Vlug van die Seemeeu (TV series)

1977 – Die besoeker/The Guest: An episode in the Life of Eugène Marais as "Tant Corrie"

1983 – Verspeelde Lente (TV series), as "Griet le Roux"

1990 – The Fourth Reich as "Mrs. Engelbrecht"

1992 – Die Storie van Klara Viljee as "Miss Lizzie Sauer"

1993 – Friends as "Iris"

1993 - Die Manakwalanners (TV series) as "Lenie Strauss"

1993 – Djadje – Last Night I Fell Off a Horse

2002 – Promised Land as "Mart".

Awards, etc

She is one of a handful of writers to have won the Hertzog Prize in two different categories. She won it first for poetry in 1977 and then for fiction in 1991.

She has been awarded:

1977: Hertzog Prize for Poetry for Van vergetelheid en van glans.

1984: CNA Award, Louis Luyt Prize and the Old Mutual Prize for Monsterverse.

1988: Grinzane Cavour Prize for Spedizione al Baobab.

1991: W.A. Hofmeyr Award and Hertzog Prize (for prose) for Abjater Wat So Lag.

2008: SALA Literary Lifetime Award.

2015: Receives a Fiësta-toekenning ("Fiësta award"), a lifetime award in recognition of her contribution to South African theatre and verbal art.

Sources

https://www.litnet.co.za/wilma-stockenstr-m-1933/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilma_Stockenstr%C3%B6m

https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilma_Stockenstr%C3%B6m

Die Patatta theatre programme notes, circa 1965.

Die Burger, 7 August 2008.

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