Pieter-Dirk Uys

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Pieter-Dirk Uys

Pieter-Dirk Uys (born September 28, 1945 in Cape Town ) is a South African satirist , comedian , author and social activist , who became known as a travesty artist in his role as Evita Bezuidenhout .

Life

Pieter-Dirk Uys is the son of the Afrikaans Hannes Uys and the Berlin-born Jew Helga Bassel. His father was an organist in parishes of the Dutch Reformed Church , but also a member of the censorship authority, which among other things examined plays and occasionally banned them. His mother was known as a concert pianist even before she emigrated from Germany in 1936. In South Africa she met Hannes Uys. Pieter-Dirk Uys was born in 1945, his sister Tessa Uys in 1948. She also became a pianist.

Pieter-Dirk Uys grew up in the traditions of the conservative Afrikaans. He studied acting at the University of Cape Town and earned a Bachelor of Arts . He moved to London to gain stage experience. In 1969 his mother died by suicide. In 1978 Uys developed the fictional character Evita Bezuidenhout , a drag queen who strongly criticized the apartheid system as well as white liberals and made him known. He occasionally appeared on South African television . He was particularly associated with the Market Theater in Johannesburg and the Cape Town Space Theater in the 1970s and 1980s . He is considered "practically the only comedian who was able to parody the notoriously humorless [apartheid] regime". During the apartheid period, several of his plays were banned by the censors.

After the first free elections in 1994 , his television series Funigalore started . As part of the broadcast, he interviewed President Nelson Mandela in November 1994 in his role as Evita . It also occurs in Europe, particularly the United Kingdom , and North America.

He wrote numerous books, including around 25 plays.

Uys lives in Darling , South Africa, where he has been running the cabaret theater and restaurant Evita se Perron in the former train station since 1996 . The name is an allusion to Eva "Evita" Perón , but also translated from Afrikaans as "Evitas platform". Uys appears weekly on the YouTube channel EvitaSePerron under the title Evita's Free Speech . Uys has been going to schools as Evita since 2000 to raise awareness of the dangers of AIDS . He has so far reached around 1.5 million students. He received several honorary doctorates for his work against AIDS . He serves on the Board of Directors of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation .

bibliography

Films (selection)

  • 1985: Skating on thin Uys , comedy about PW Botha
  • 2007: Darling! The Pieter – Dirk Uys Story , documentation by Julian Shaw
  • 2016: Nobody's Died Laughing , documentary by Willem Oelofsen

Prizes and awards (selection)

  • 2000: Living Legacy 2000 Award in San Diego, for Mrs Evita Bezuidenhout
  • 2000: Lifetime Achievement Award from the Cape Tercentenary Foundation
  • 2001: Truth and Reconciliation Award
  • 2011: TMSA Naledi Lifetime Achiever Award
  • 2011: Special Teddy Award at the Berlinale
  • 2012: German Africa Prize
  • 2018: Hertzogprys for drama

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Megan Lewis: Performing whitely in the postcolony: Afrikaners in South African theatrical and public life. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 2016, ISBN 9781609384470 , pp. 104 f. Excerpts from books.google.de
  2. ↑ a b Interview with Tessa Uys at aviva-berlin.de, accessed on September 12, 2018
  3. ^ A b Nicole John: Up close with Pieter-Dirk Uys. news24.com from January 31, 2017 (English), accessed on September 12, 2018
  4. ↑ a b c CV on Uys' website at pdu.co.za, accessed September 12, 2018
  5. ^ Pieter-Dirk Uys: I don't do jokes, I tell the truth. independent.co.uk , accessed September 12, 2018
  6. ↑ Evita Se Perron at westcoastway.co.za (English), accessed on September 12, 2018
  7. ↑ EvitaSePerron at youtube.com, accessed on September 12, 2018
  8. ↑ Archives Award , accessed on September 12, 2018
personal data
SURNAME Uys, Pieter-Dirk
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African comedian, writer, drag artist and activist
DATE OF BIRTH September 28, 1945
PLACE OF BIRTH Cape Town