In The Echo of a Noise, master story teller, political satirist Pieter Dirk-Uys bares all about his life and that of his family

The drama about the life and times of the satirist plays out on the stages of Pieter Torien Theatre, Montecasino April 21-14 May, 2023

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

The jewel  and crown of making sure that democracy survives challenges, and even thrives in the long term is active and ever watchful communities, not politicians and their politics, asserts master story teller and political satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys in a wide ranging interview with CITYLIFE/ARTS  held at his  favourite coffee shop in Melville. In fact whenever he is in the City of Gold, as Johannesburg is sometimes called, and is giving interviews to the media, he prefers Café Dela Crème Cafe.  I interviewed him in the same cafe about six years ago, when he was here with another show. The previous day, I had also seen him being interviewed by another journalist at the same place.

“This is our office,” he joked.  Uys’s comment about politics was in answer to the question I had asked him about his opinion on the current political condition on in the country, where uncertainty seems to have replaced hope and certainty that prevailed a in 1994 and the first half of our democracy. The interview was also in the context of his current production that is enthralling theatre fans at Pieter Torien   Fourways.

To qualify his views, he said: : “Look at the circus and chaos that are going on in Gauteng  local government councils fr instance.” He is of course referring to the instability in Gauteng’s major municipalities of the City of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane  were squabbling coalition political partners keep on changing leadership such as Speakers of Council and Mayors  in the same way that underwear is changed, sorry the pan.  This is as service delivery suffers such as gaping potholes that have now become impossible to notice on our roads even to those walking on foot.

However Uys is no politician, but a satirist whose career as a playwright is pretty much tied to the political developments in the country, dating back to the apartheid years, as far back as the 70s, 80s and post-apartheid South Africa.

His plays and productions continue to be spot on when it comes to  creating satire on current politics on stage and on TV, Uys is simply one of a kind, whose mind is sharp, pen even sharper, and thinking in terms of capturing the political moment insightful, threatening even, to the political elite sometimes.

Through the characters he creates such as Evita Bezuidenhout and Bambi Kellermann – not to mention his spoofs of apartheid’s rogues’ gallery and his HIV/Aids awareness work – have earned him a place in South African theatre history as one of the nation’s foremost satirists and theatre activists. He gives his characters life on stage. In the process he manages to offend and entertain the audience at the same time, a formula that works magic as his shows are almost always packed as audiences laugh and get angry within the same breath.

He shared with CITYLIFE/ARTS his working formula. “In all my shows, I make sure that they 49 percent offend and 51 percent entertain.  The trick is to offend without demeaning,” he explained.

Asked about his creative process, Pieter said. “For me what works is that I normally wake up at 2am to write with a glass of wine. I write about anything that comes into my head. But then the following day when I am sober I look at what I have written. Well a lot of it is not something I can use. However there will always be that one brilliant line that I then develop further to come up with useful material for a script,” he said.

Based in Darling, a town one hour drive from Cape Town, at his home, he has built a theatre from a decommissioned railway station that he uses as a laboratory for his productions.

“I am very much involved with the community of around 30 000 people. What I do is that during the development of a production, I invite community members to come over and watch the production, after which I ask them to send me comments. They will tell you a lot of things that you need to do to improve the show. I do that before I take it to the audience outside this community. They will ways give you good feedback,” Uys explained.

Uys has over the years successfully managed to capture and keep the imagination of especially theatre audiences through various alter egos he created, most prominent of whom is Evita Bezuidenhout, an Afrikaaner woman, who has undergone political metamorphosis over the years.. During the apartheid years, she was a member of the then ruling National Party. But in post-apartheid South Africa, she became a member of the ruling African National Congress. If you think this is impossible, just think about this: Haven’t some of the National Party members joined the African National Congress in post-Apartheid South Africa anyway?

This character has outlived many a politician since she was birthed by Uys in 1981 with her debut at the Market Theatre.

“The production was supposed to be a short once off show. I remember being interviewed by a journalist from Raport about the character who asked me what was Evita’s surname. I did not know at the time. But then I quickly noticed a poster of Aletta Bezuidenhout on the wall. I quickly answered Bezuidenhout.

Well, when Uys created the character, he may not have forgotten to give her a surname, but Evita has since given many an audience member some laughs and anger, many a politician sleepless nights and certainly many an ordinary person food for thought, especially when it comes to the creature we call politics and its complexity.

Currently his 2015 production, Echoes of a Noise, a memoir about his life and times,  which debuted at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival , where it was meant to be a once off show, but subsequently became a sensation, is making audiences laugh at the Peter Torien Theatre at Montecasino till May 14,

This one is about Uys’s life and sees him play out his life and that of his family, father and mother included, while he is seated on a stool, remarkably sustaining an engaging and entertaining narrative for 90 minutes as a one man show. He bares it all about his life on stage. But as always, the personal also becomes political as he digs the archives of his family, in some cases bringing out hidden truths.

“For instance I never knew that my mother was a Jewish woman from Berlin, who came to South Africa in 1936, a few years before the World War. I only came to know about this after her death after she committed suicide in 1969. I was 18. All along I had thought I was an Afrikaaner as my father is an Afrikaaner.  The information was delivered to me by an uncle (a relative to DF Malan). But for some reason I had always been close to Jewish friends. In fact I laugh about it now and call myself an Afrikaaner Jew.”

Uys told me that he suspects that his parents kept his Jewish heritage under hush hush at the time because there was some suspicion, even animosity between Jews and Afrikaners at the time.

Encounter Pieter-Dirk Uys stripped down and as never before: a man and a satirist shaped by his upbringing, environment and choices – and by the pivotal and sometimes tragic life events that forged him in fire.

 There is much humour in these recollections, too, as Uys holds the audience spellbound with this powerful monologue – confirming once again why he remains one of South Africa’s most engaging raconteurs.

 Book your seat now for a personal audience with Pieter-Dirk Uys – don’t miss The Echo of a Noise. Performances are on Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 4pm and 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm. Book at Webtickets or contact Geraldine at (011) 511-1988 or geraldine@montetheatre.co.za for discounted school bookings.

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