PIETER-DIRK Uys enjoyed standing ovations at the two shows he put on at the Guild Theatre, the Friday night being completely sold out.
He used to say in the 1980s that all he had to do was open the newspapers to obtain his material, and the show would change from day-to-day as new material was released.
“The Bothas, PW – die ou krokodil – and Pik, and what about Botha-lezi? – they gave me all the material I ever needed,” he said amid laughs.
“Today it’s the same – Zuma, Mandela, Zille.” All give Uys something daily to write about and poke fun at.
He’s had his share of dodging censors and security policemen. “I wish they had banned some of my plays – the publicity would have been worth it,” Uys remarked.
This time his show was a bit different, with Uys placing 15 or 16 different boxes on stage. Each box represents one of his characters complete with wardrobe and props. Audience members call out a number and almost like a chameleon, he changed into that person before the audience’s eyes. A wig, a shirt, a moustache, all done without leaving the stage.
His material, as always was fresh and up to date, despite his characters being so well-known: Evita Bezuidenhout, Nelson Mandela, PW Botha, Pik Botha, Nowell Fine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe, Winnie Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Jacob Zuma, Bambi Kellermann, Helen Suzman, Mother Theresa and Mrs Petersen from the Cape Flats, among others.
On Friday he took off former SA foreign minister Pik Botha to a T, talking for 10 minutes and saying exactly nothing!
The biggest cheer on Friday came when he donned a wig, put on some lipstick and in moments took on the Evita Bezuidenhout persona. The former ambassadress to Bapetikosweti has now joined the ANC and is in fact currently the cook at Luthuli House, which is not an easy job, according to Evita, with all the fat cats around.
The biggest laugh came when Evita brought out a baby Julius, complete with a small red beret, which Evita cradled in her arms. My magtig!
But this time Uys returned to East London with a real purpose – to raise funds for a new creche in the Buffalo Flats area, under the guidance of Gately Rotary chairwoman Micaela Beltrame.
She invited a local book club on Wednesday evening to meet Uys at the Regent Hotel to chat about his new book.
The story concerns two suspicious Afrikaans-speaking spinster teachers, Rosa and Karin, at the Robben island Primary School in 1987 who sit each evening by their wide window which has a panoramic view of Table Mountain.
In the nearby prison set aside for political prisoners is a dying Alfred Makhale. His daughter, Sibi, who is pregnant, arrives on the island for a visit and, with no hotel on the island, is billeted in the spinsters’ cottage.
Hilariously, as Sibi is a banned person, she may only be in a room with one other person at a time, leading to a lot of to-ing and fro-ing by the two teachers throughout a long and hectic evening.
Rosa goes off to Cape Town each week and has a secret life there, but Karin refuses to leave the island as she suffers from seasickness and hates the ferry trip over to the mainland.
Interestingly in the audience was a former learner at the same school, who related how sick she would get when travelling to the mainland, but she recalled how wonderful life was living on the island and catching fish and crayfish with ease during the late 1950s and early 1960s when she lived there.
The narrative has a sequel when Sibi returns to Robben Island – now a World Heritage site – in 2009 with her two “born-free” sons, Matthew and Bongani, the sons of a white doctor Sibi had married. They were armed, as children are these days, with all the latest iPhone gadgets to keep up to date with the world. It is an attempt at closure for Sibi, an adventure for her boys, and for the reader, a remarkable journey back from the dark past.
The book is so typically Uys, with twists and turns complete with a fair amount of harmless swearing in both English and Afrikaans.
Uys’s new book celebrates the people who, through their shared passion for a beloved country, managed to communicate and even laugh with each other in spite of fear, guilt and prejudice.
The book has been inspired by Uys’s internationally acclaimed play of the same name and can be honestly recommended as a good, entertaining read which will have you chuckling away throughout.
Acclaim for Evita and her crafty creator
He used to say in the 1980s that all he had to do was open the newspapers to obtain his material, and the show would change from day-to-day as new material was released.
“The Bothas, PW – die ou krokodil – and Pik, and what about Botha-lezi? – they gave me all the material I ever needed,” he said amid laughs.
“Today it’s the same – Zuma, Mandela, Zille.” All give Uys something daily to write about and poke fun at.
He’s had his share of dodging censors and security policemen. “I wish they had banned some of my plays – the publicity would have been worth it,” Uys remarked.
This time his show was a bit different, with Uys placing 15 or 16 different boxes on stage. Each box represents one of his characters complete with wardrobe and props. Audience members call out a number and almost like a chameleon, he changed into that person before the audience’s eyes. A wig, a shirt, a moustache, all done without leaving the stage.
His material, as always was fresh and up to date, despite his characters being so well-known: Evita Bezuidenhout, Nelson Mandela, PW Botha, Pik Botha, Nowell Fine, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Zimbabwean First Lady Grace Mugabe, Winnie Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Jacob Zuma, Bambi Kellermann, Helen Suzman, Mother Theresa and Mrs Petersen from the Cape Flats, among others.
On Friday he took off former SA foreign minister Pik Botha to a T, talking for 10 minutes and saying exactly nothing!
The biggest cheer on Friday came when he donned a wig, put on some lipstick and in moments took on the Evita Bezuidenhout persona. The former ambassadress to Bapetikosweti has now joined the ANC and is in fact currently the cook at Luthuli House, which is not an easy job, according to Evita, with all the fat cats around.
The biggest laugh came when Evita brought out a baby Julius, complete with a small red beret, which Evita cradled in her arms. My magtig!
But this time Uys returned to East London with a real purpose – to raise funds for a new creche in the Buffalo Flats area, under the guidance of Gately Rotary chairwoman Micaela Beltrame.
She invited a local book club on Wednesday evening to meet Uys at the Regent Hotel to chat about his new book.
The story concerns two suspicious Afrikaans-speaking spinster teachers, Rosa and Karin, at the Robben island Primary School in 1987 who sit each evening by their wide window which has a panoramic view of Table Mountain.
In the nearby prison set aside for political prisoners is a dying Alfred Makhale. His daughter, Sibi, who is pregnant, arrives on the island for a visit and, with no hotel on the island, is billeted in the spinsters’ cottage.
Hilariously, as Sibi is a banned person, she may only be in a room with one other person at a time, leading to a lot of to-ing and fro-ing by the two teachers throughout a long and hectic evening.
Rosa goes off to Cape Town each week and has a secret life there, but Karin refuses to leave the island as she suffers from seasickness and hates the ferry trip over to the mainland.
Interestingly in the audience was a former learner at the same school, who related how sick she would get when travelling to the mainland, but she recalled how wonderful life was living on the island and catching fish and crayfish with ease during the late 1950s and early 1960s when she lived there.
The narrative has a sequel when Sibi returns to Robben Island – now a World Heritage site – in 2009 with her two “born-free” sons, Matthew and Bongani, the sons of a white doctor Sibi had married. They were armed, as children are these days, with all the latest iPhone gadgets to keep up to date with the world. It is an attempt at closure for Sibi, an adventure for her boys, and for the reader, a remarkable journey back from the dark past.
The book is so typically Uys, with twists and turns complete with a fair amount of harmless swearing in both English and Afrikaans.
Uys’s new book celebrates the people who, through their shared passion for a beloved country, managed to communicate and even laugh with each other in spite of fear, guilt and prejudice.
The book has been inspired by Uys’s internationally acclaimed play of the same name and can be honestly recommended as a good, entertaining read which will have you chuckling away throughout.
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