(Tiro Seleke, manager
of business development at DALRO, Pieter-Dirk Uys, ACT trustee Caroline Smart
and Tobie Badenhorst, Head: Sponsorships & Cause Marketing at Nedbank. Pic
by John Hogg)
Since the 1960s, Pieter-Dirk Uys has been poking fun at South
Africa’s past while finding hilarious ways to ensure it progresses positively.
The satirist, performer, author and social activist was recognised for his
ample contributions to the arts at the 19th annual ACT Awards.
Sponsored by DALRO, this Theatre Lifetime Achievement Award
was bestowed upon Uys at the glittering Sophiatown-themed Awards ceremony at
Sun International’s The Maslow Hotel in Johannesburg.
“As an organisation that prides itself on protecting the
rights and copyright of artists, playwrights and authors, DALRO is proud to
sponsor an award that bestows such a distinguished honour on South African
artists who have spent their lives contributing to our nation's extensive
cannon of theatrical work. It is through the work of such profound artists that
South Africans can engage with a high calibre of artistry for generations to
come,” says DALRO.
Uys certainly is such an artist. Closely associated with
both the Space Theatre in Cape Town and Johannesburg's Market Theatre during
the 1970s and 1980s, he has written and performed 20 plays and over 30 revues
and one-man shows throughout South Africa and abroad.
Over the years Uys, and his celebrated character Evita
Bezuidenhout, have received a bevy of awards for both their theatrical work and
their humanitarian efforts. Uys was awarded South Africa's prestigious Truth
and Reconciliation Award in 2001. He has received honorary degrees from Rhodes
University (D.Litt.Hon. 1997), the University of Cape Town (D.Litt.Hon. 2003),
the University of the Western Cape (D.Edu.Hon. 2003) and the University of the
Witwatersrand (D.Litt.Hon. 2004). While Bezuidenhout proudly received the
Living Legacy 2000 Award in San Diego, USA. In 2011, Uys was honoured with a
Lifetime Achievement Teddy Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, and
in 2012 he received the FW de Klerk Goodwill Award.
His plays Paradise is
Closing Down, Panorama, God's Forgotten, Auditioning Angels, Faces in the Wall
and Just Like Home have been
performed internationally, and his one-man shows Adapt or Dye, One Man One Volt, You ANC Nothing Yet, Truth Omissions,
Live from Boerassic Park, Dekaffirnated, Foreign Aids, Evita for President, and Elections & Erections have been presented in the United
Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, Australia, the USA and Canada.
Recent successes include Desperate
First Ladies and F.A.K. Songs and
Other Struggle Anthems, which he has presented throughout South Africa and
toured to Berlin, Holland and London.
During 2012, Uys launched his latest one-man onslaught, Adapt or Fly, throughout South Africa
and later toured it to Namibia, while in 2013 he added An Audience with Pieter-Dirk EISH! to his repertoire, and premiered
a new Bambi Kellermann cabaret, 50 Shades
of Bambi, at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town.
Also an accomplished author in a variety of genres, Uys’
2000 novel, Trekking to Teema, was
South Africa’s first e-book, before being published as a hard copy. He has also
written Evita Bezuidenhout’s biography, A
Part Hate A Part Love, as well as a book based on his 12-part 1994 MNet
television series, Funigalore, in
which Evita Bezuidenhout, interviewed the new democratic government’s leaders,
including Nelson Mandela.
Since 2000, Uys has been travelling around South Africa,
visiting over 1.5 million school children, as well as prisons and
reformatories, with a free AIDS-awareness entertainment show called For Facts
Sake!. He has also released a corporate AIDS-information video, Having Sex with
Pieter-Dirk Uys, as well as the family-friendly video, Survival Aids, and Just a Small Prick!, which tackle the
fears surrounding testing for HIV.
Uys believes that without art the world would be a very
different place. “Art is the oxygen; culture is the calcium,” he says, “without
them any society would be without breath or movement.”
DALRO echoes this; “It is through the arts that our
communities can actively engage with our heritage, identities and the myriad
cultures that make up our diverse nation. The arts remain the most evocative,
spiritual and personal way we as South Africans tackle ideas, conflict and change.”
Always up for a challenge, Uys believes that the highlight
of his career is “survival in spite of all the pitfalls and dongas of life”. He
believes that failure is essential to success; “without them, there is no
eventual award,” he concludes.
The 19th annual ACT Awards was hosted by Sun International
in association with the National Lotteries Commission (NLC) and is supported by
the Southern African Music Rights Organisation (SAMRO), the Dramatic, Artistic
and Literary Rights Organisation (DALRO), Media24 Books, the Nedbank Arts
Affinity, JTI, Creative Feel, Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) and the
Distell Foundation.
For more information about the Arts & Culture Trust
(ACT) visit www.act.org.za
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