(Tribute written by Wanda Hennig)
St Clements’ Mondays at Six programme on August 4 at 18h00
honours the late Pieter Scholtz (February 7, 1937 — July 5, 2025)
Pieter Scholtz, the inspiration behind St Clements’ regular Mondays at Six programme: friend, mentor to many, emeritus UKZN Drama professor, author of innumerable books and plays (a number of which, long-time Monday night fans will remember, were launched by Pieter at St Clements), adventurer, visionary, dreamer, legend, ever-adoring husband of the late Jilian Hurst (Jilly), who died in 1997 (dancer, choreographer, director with Margie Larlham of the Barefoot Dance Company, precursor of the Flatfoot Dance Company), a man who cared about others and whose fervour for acting, theatre, the stage, the written word, seemed to come not from ego or pretension but from a deep passion for the art, the craft, the desire to share, to interpret, to nurture, to create.
“Meet” Jilian Hurst through Dancing into Being, one of the books Pieter published and launched at St Clements, written and illustrated by Jilian before she died. See http://news.artsmart.co.za/2015/02/dancing-into-being.html
Fellow actor and drama lecturer Jane Ross will present August’s Monday at Six as a tribute evening for Pieter.
Planned for the August “Monday at Six” is a lively and celebratory tribute evening for Pieter, who died on Saturday July 5, age 88, after a gradual decline. Jane Ross, a lecturer in drama at Stadio college, an actress and a friend, is putting together the evening.
Look forward to meeting some of Pieter’s former students, hearing interpretations of some of his favourite readings and poems and lots more. Rick (a St Clem stalwart now in Joburg) and Jill Andrew have recorded Pieter’s St Clements anthem, Forever Young, for the occasion. Expect, also, to hear from Pieter’s St Clements "Friday breakfast group" friends including Chris Nicholson, Val Coppin-Shaw and Paul Mikula. Jane promises us an open mic. More details to follow in the aide-memoire.
Pieter had been living at Garden Grove, his well-being overseen by his loving niece, Heidi van Rooyen, with a full-time carer and with regular visits from former drama students and other friends. He celebrated his 88th birthday with a brekkie at St Clements, his home from home, and where, until the last three or four weeks, he was still a regular, if frail, visitor.
The great staff at St Clements took good care of him. Steve Clements was there for Pieter, helped him find and buy his last car (which Pieter gave to a former student when he had to stop driving), gave Pieter a refuge that kept him sane during Covid, took him to Eshowe when Pieter had to finally pack up his dream “tree house” there. (Which came, in retirement, after the house boat in the UK, which was followed by the water tower in France.)
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what
you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the
journey at all.
Better if it lasts for
years,
so you’re old by the
time you reach the island,
wealthy with all
you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka
to make you rich. — from Ithaka
by C.P. Cavafy.
Read the full poem Ithaka here. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51296/ithaka-56d22eef917ec
Pieter had Ingrid Lotter Smith, artist, teacher, calligrapher and owner of what was the fabulous Artisan Gallery at the top of Florida Road, “calligraphy” this poem for him. He had her transpose the poem in English over the words printed in pale green in Greek. Pieter had this framed in his Eshowe “dacha” and moved it with him to Garden Grove, where it hung on the wall in his bedroom. It is a poem that seems to powerfully express Pieter’s life and how he lived it. (Ingrid was scheduled to present, on calligraphy, at the August St. Clements Monday. Instead, she will be there in September.)
When the donation box is passed around, a minimum of R50 per person is suggested.
Weather permitting, the presentation will be outdoors. Indoors if it rains.
Bookings limited to diners in support of St Clements
restaurant and staff.
Be there in time to order — evening scheduled to start at 18h00.
Please cancel if you book then can’t make it.
For more information contact Wanda Hennig on 072-664-3170
St Clements is situated at 191 Musgrave Road in Durban. Mondays @ Six run between 18h00 and 19h00. Table bookings are essential on 031 202 2511 or 062 582 0980. There is no cover charge but there is a donations box to support presenters.
If you wish to dine after the presentation, place your order before 18h00.