Pieter-Dirk Uys' Play Texts
Twenty-three plays are now available here in their entirety for your enjoyment. You may download and print them out for free. However, the professional rights for performance need to be applied for and the necessary contact addresses are noted.
But please read the plays with pleasure. Let me tell you what they are by quoting some press comments.
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SELLE OU STORIE (1974/Afrikaans)
Selle ou Storie is 'n baie beduidende gebeurtenis vir die Afrikaanse teater, maar nog meer so vir die Afrikaanse taal.
Coenie Slabber, Rapport, 9 March 1975
... 'n deur wat na nuwe terreine in ons Suid-Afrikaanse toneelkuns sal lei.
Paul Alberts, Die Burger, 16 October 1974
Selle ou Storie ... must rate as one of the most ambitious and daring plays in the history of South African theatre.
Mike Nichol, To the Point, April 1974
...theatrically, Pieter-Dirk Uys moves into new territory....brilliantly written, and has stood the test of time remarkably well.
Diane de Beer, Pretoria News, 7 September 2004
This 30-year old play may be the same old story, but this play is a fresh, intelligent and revelatory experience....crackles with humour and tension. An Afrikaans play that tells it like it is....
Christine Kennedy, The Citizen, 7 September 2004
Way ahead of its time...this work transcends its nostalgic residues.
Adrienne Sichel, The Star Tonight, 7 September 2004
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GOD'S FORGOTTEN (1975/English) (*There is a bilingual text to be released on demand)
Pieter-Dirk Uys's play is a kind of prophecy, viable in that it is a logical extension of the status quo. It has the unmistakable stamp of truth. Its implications may be self-evident, but we ignore them at our peril. God's Forgotten is a powerful and compelling work. It is sometime in the future, the aftermath of an African Armageddon. The exponents of the creed that White is Right are in a state of siege. They are not necessarily evil people and it is not easy to hate them. They believe as implicitly in God as they do in their great mistake. But the political platitudes prevail. Nothing, they tell themselves, has changed. Everything is under control.
Raeford Daniel, Rand Daily Mail, 12 August 1976
... a sobering experience. See it even if you don't want to believe it.
Natalie Knight, SA Financial Gazette, 20 August 1976
God's Forgotten is at the same time a strange and ordinary play clichιd, original, obvious, fanciful, futuristic and of today. Strangely perhaps the play does not seem all that chilling it has a believable realism God forbid.
Garth Verdal, Weekend Argus, 31 May 1975
It is a thought-provoking, highly disturbing work, exceptionally well performed with the emphasis on topicality.
Carl Williams, EP Herald, 7 July 1976
Those who are the butt of a satire seldom identify with its victims, but Pieter-Dirk Uys has left us with no escape. Sugaring a very bitter pill with homely, colloquial humour, he forces us to accept a futuristic portrait of ourselves that is totally horrific. He has given us theatre at its most socially relevant. He hasn't provided answers merely a very disturbing mirror.
Elaine Durbach, The Argus, 28 May 1975
The play (on at La Mama in Greenwich Village) must be extended and it must be published in America. Its human and political insights extend far beyond its very important topicality.
Robert Patrick, NY Other Stages, 17 May 1978
God's Forgotten is poignant, witty, intelligent and never hysterical: it is also extremely good entertainment, something we seldom get in the theatre today.
Peter Reynolds, Cape Times, 26 May 1975
God may have forgotten, but Pieter-Dirk Uys's play, written in the mid-1970s, is a grim reminder of just how much we are forgetting too how much is conveniently sliding into the shadows of political history, ugly and unresolved. God's Forgotten is then incidentally an eloquent argument for the necessity of a Truth Commission. It is a play written in the past about a future, performed now.
Peter Frost, Cape Times, 8 August 1995
The play's overriding atmosphere of fear and ever-threatening danger make it a powerful study of a nation disintegrating under desperate despotic rule. A harsh view of what might have been.
Joanna Sterkowicz, Business Day, 21 September 1995
God's Forgotten is a frightening reminder of the forces of self-destruction that could be evoked by the myopia of power politics. Riveting theatre.
Raeford Daniel, The Citizen, 21 September 1995
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KARNAVAL (1975/Afrikaans)
Klinkende dialoog maak Karnaval 'n klinkende sukses.'
Hoofstad
Karnaval is vir almal wat alle aspekte van die 'teater van nou' kan waardeer. Die snaaksigheid, absurditeit en hartroerenheid wissel mekaar gedurig af...net soos in die lewe self.
Paul Boekkooi, Oggendblad
Karnaval is 'n lekker en egte stuk...met klinkende kleinhuisiehumor, maar is nie sonder tragedie en patos nie.
Barrie Hough, Beeld
Uys, that most South African of writers, at his best.
Adrian Monteath, Sunday Times
Its shrewd observation, biting wit and deep compassion, make it a most important addition to the South African dramatic repertoire.
Michael Venables, The Citizen
This unflinching vision of earthiness and unattainable hope, of searing pertinence and horrifying accuracy, will have you laughing till the last line and then you will discover that you are weeping. Banned for five years because it is 'blasphemous and obscene', this masterwork by Pieter-Dirk Uys captures the core of South Africanism so accurately and with such pertinent insight, that it should be declared a national monument.
John Michel, Rand Daily Mail
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THE RISE AND FALL OF THE FIRST EMPRESS BONAPARTE (1976/English)
The story of Napoleon and Josephine must be as daunting to playwrights as it has been irresistible to film producers....Pieter-Dirk Uys has turned the whole thing inside out and in doing so has shown his sure dramatic sense and knowledge of human motives. It is Josephine who occupies the centre of the drama and how absolutely right this is, for when one looks at Napoleon and all his brothers and sisters during this episode of history, it is Josephine who is the real magnet of their emotions - whether these emotions were love, hatred or envy. She was the light and the rest of them were moths. The fluent dialogue flashes along at an easy pace, the period costumes and musical effects add much to the atmosphere and one brilliant scene gives way to another. I would say it is Pieter-Dirk Uys's best so far.
Brian Barrow, Cape Times, 19 August 1977
Pieter-Dirk Uys has imbued his work with a sense of bitchiness which makes it very entertaining at times ... It has the potential of a play which will last the test of time.
Garalt MacLiam, The Star, 29 July 1983
Gedryf deur in haas ongelooflike verbeeldingskrag, 'n byna fanatiese soeke na dit wat waarlik (teatraal gesproke) werk, 'n sterk ontwikkelde vermoe om dialoog sinvol, ekonomies en vloeiend te maak en 'n onomslagtige daarstelling van 'n magdom gegewens binne 'n fyn afgebakende dramatiese raamwerk, maak Pieter-Dirk Uys se The Rise and Fall of the First Empress Bonaparte heerlike ontvlugting.
Paul Boekkooi, Beeld, 1 Augustus 1983
Uys's play about Napoleon's first spouse is quite different from anything else he has written and is quite the most finished ... he treats the portentious stuff of history rather as does an Anouilh or a Shaw. He keeps it lurking, peripherally, in the wings while, on the forestage, he diverts with waggish humour.
Raeford Daniel, Rand Daily Mail, 12 August 1983
This is a thoughtful and enjoyable play...any night you like, Josephine!
Adrian Monteath, Sunday Times, 21 August 1983
Quite different from anything else Pieter-Dirk Uys has written, this study of the marriage of Napoleon and the Creole beauty, Josephine de Beauharnais, and of the bitter internecine feuding between the members of the Bonaparte Family, provides an intelligent and highly entertaining evening.
Michael Venables, The Citizen, 13 August 1983
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SKOTE! (1976/Afrikaans)
Skote, 'n toneelstuk vir hoerskool-leerlinge, is in 1976 vir die vyftigjarige bestaansjaar van die Hoerskool Jan van Riebeeck in Kaapstad geskryf.
Die intrige behels basies die finale kleed-repetisie van 'n toneelstuk wat handel oor Jan van Riebeeck se landing in the Kaap. Chaos en senuweeagtigheid heers op die verhoog, want die dekor en kostuums is nog nie voltooi nie. Daar is onderlinge twis onder die spelers en die toneel word aanhoudend deur die regisseur in die ouditorium onderbreek.
Almal is ontsteld want die volgende groep wat moet optree wag reeds hulle beurt af om te repeteer. Groot konsternasie heers as daar skielik 'n paar harde skote gehoor word; die paniekbevange leerlinge en onderwysers verkeer onder die indruk dat hulle deur terroriste aangeval word. Die spanning laai op en 'n anti-klimaks word bereik as die opsigter se seuntjie met 'n rewolwer in die kloktoring opgespoor word.
Afrikaanse vollengte-toneelstukke vir hoerskool-studente is uiters skaars.
Hierdie toneelstuk met sy groot rolverdeling, sy humor en sterk spanningslyn sal groot byval by hoerskool-leerlinge vind. Die stuk is maklik om op te voer, want die karakter-uitbeelding val binne die ervaringsveld van die leerlinge: die leerlinge speel die rolle van leerlinge en geen tegniese toneelspeel-vaardighede soos karakterskepping en identifisering word van hulle vereis nie. Hierdie toneelstuk voldoen aan al die vereistes vir 'n goeie hoerskool-toneelstuk.
Ben de Koker, Volksblad, 3 Augustus 1985
NOTA VAN PIETER-DIRK UYS
Ons woon vandag in ander tye. Die stuk dateer uit die 1970s: 'n spesifieke periode in die Afrikaanse geskiedenis, maar die struktuur en storie geld nog. Die mense is nie baie anders nie. Hulle emosies is herkenbaar.
As 'n skool dit vandag opvoer, gebruik die volgende riglyne:
Dit vind plaas vandag. Vind 'n fokus vir die onderwerp van die kinders se toneelstuk: nie meer Jan van Riebeeck nie; miskien Nelson Mandela se vrylating. Laat hulle self die stuk skryf.
Maak seker dat die verskeidenheid leerlinge die kulturele realteite van vandag se klasse weerspieel. Moenie bang wees vir die probleme van rassisme en etniese haakplekke nie. Gebruik drama om dit te weerspieel en op te los.
Die gevaar van terrorisme is groter as ooit. Brei uit daarop.
Met ander woorde, neem dit as basis en skryf 'n nuwe eietydse stuk wat die emosies and drama van vandag se skoolrealiteite weergee.
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PARADISE IS CLOSING DOWN (1977/English) (*There is a bilingual text to be released on demand)
The play is savagely bitter and bitingly funny.
Sean Hignett, New Statesman, 24 August 1979
The parallel of Tennessee Williams immediately springs to mind. A hard, searing and relentless investigation of (South African) whites through the bottom of a bottle, in which their bitchiness is played out on each other against a background of racial tension ... one feels that his extraordinary method of investigating apartheid by concentrating on the people who are part of the problem rather than part of the solution, is perhaps the most powerful way it could be done.
Martin Doyle, The Scotsman, 18 August 1979
The subtle, underlying political comment by Uys is ever present ... a beautiful satire.'
Robert Underwood, Insight, September 1979
Conflicting attitudes on the situation in South Africa are expounded at length expounded with wit, with bitter humour, often with fury. It is engrossingly entertaining and very very well done. Its message is one that we could ignore at our peril.
Raeford Daniel, Rand Daily Mail, 7 July 1978
As in all the best political writing, the talk is as amusing as it is trenchant and it is delivered convincingly.
B A Young, Financial Times, 17 September 1979
There's hope for our English-language theatre after all. Here is an indigenous play that has relevance, wit, elegance and considerable audacity ... a courageous and intelligent play.
Michael Venables, The Citizen, 7 July 1978
Paradise is closing down , currently receiving its American premiere at Syracuse Stage, is a powerful and touching play ... a stunning presentation of South Africa as a paradise which is closing down because of bureaucratic bungling, political blindness, social conflict, powerful forces beyond its borders and the most basic of dramatic and moral themes: human weakness.
David Feldman, Syracuse New Times (USA), 21 January 1981
Paradise is a cleverly constructed piece of work with a crystal-clear theme running through that the time bomb ticking under the white 'paradise' is fast running out.
B M, Evening News (Edinburgh Festival), 21 August 1979
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DIE VAN AARDES VAN GROOTOOR (1978/Afrikaans)
Die Van Aardes raak ook Afrikaner-wees diep maar op 'n manier wat my meer lief gemaak het vir my volk en trots om 'n Afrikaner te wees.
Don Lamprecht, Die Transvaler
Wat nou in Die Laager (by die Markteater) gebeur is g'n ydele omstredenheid nie, maar net soveel geskiedenis as een van die Taalbewegings.
Cas van Rensburg, Beeld
In 24 years of reviewing ... I don't think I have laughed so much so consistently during any single performance.
Ian Gray, The Star
Die doel is .. om met totale afwesigheid van pieteit, genadeloos die draak te steek met alles wat heilig en onaantasbaar is...
Jeanne Coetzer, Beeld
'n Mens rafel behoorlik uit.
Johan Bruwer, Rapport
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BEYOND ALL REASON (1982/English) [aka Hell is for whites only]
Pieter-Dirk Uys se jongste toneelstuk Hell is for whites only laat jou skater maar nie sonder 'n steekpyn en 'n traan so af en toe nie. Jy lag met deernis, jy lag omdat jy dinge uit jou eie milieu herken en jy lag vir die absurditeite van teenstrydighede in ons politieke bestel. Dit het 'n interessante, komiese perspektief wat 'n verdere dimensie aan Uys se werk verleen.
Barrie Hough, Beeld, 26 November 1981
Marvellously funny in Uys's typically raunchy irreverent way.
Roy Christie, The Star, 26 November 1981
An interesting and entertaining work, if an uneven and unsatisfying one.
Raeford Daniel, Rand Daily Mail, 25 November 1981
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APPASSIONATA (1982/English)
Appassionata is 'n seldsame teatergebeurtenis 'n mens wil byna se eenmalig omdat slegs 'n konsertpianis en tegelyk aktrise ... dit kan laat materialiseer. Die drama handel oor die wrywing wat daar in die huwelik tussen die konsertpianiste en haar ewe vooruitstrewende man heers. Na 'n periode van vier jaar het hulle mekaar se beroepswerelde deurgrond. Die glans wat twee teenoorgestelde pole kan uitstraal, is doodgevryf en verwring. Al wat hulle nog kan doen is om mekaar op kunstige manier te begunstig. Vir die res is die ander se lewe 'n blok om die been.
Paul Boekkooi, Oggendblad, 7 July 1982
Fascinating. That's the first word to come to mind to describe this experimental, dramatic profile of a concert pianist. Appassionata is a powerful and incisive, yet highly entertaining, study of the artist's dilemma.
Adrienne Sichel, Pretoria News, 6 July 1982
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FARCE ABOUT UYS (1983)
A delicious riotous piece of nonsense. As satirical writing Farce About Uys is truly inspired.
Rand Daily Mail
A laugh a minute ... impeccable comic timing.
Evening Post
Pieter-Dirk Uys is 'n meester van die skewe woord ... niemand kan hom en sy Evita op hul tuisveld klop nie.
Die Burger
... one of the funniest Uys products yet to hit the market ... more beautifully naughty than ever.
The Star
Farce About Uys is pure delight.
Sunday Express
Pieter-Dirk se Evita is inderdaad 'n legende.
Die Vaderland
Fast paced, this rare and sensitive work leaves no emotion untouched as it cuts away the facade of the Bapetikosweti Embassy Blanche-Noir to leave the bare raw nerves of the game of South African politics.
The Friend
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PANORAMA (1987/English) (*There is a bilingual text to be released on demand)
A strikingly symbolic setting invests the play's themes of freedom, liberty and imprisonment with powerful ironic resonances .... Uys argues that while anti-apartheid campaigners languish in a jail deprived of their freedom, these white middle-class women are shackled by their ignorance, fear and even their unwanted virginity ... a subtle, sensitive play.
The Independent (London)
Panorama is a maturely crafted play: each line has layer upon layer of significance; each character strata of biography they have weight and the encounters crackle with vitality.
Robert Greig, Business Day, 9 July 1987
With words that sting like sand, both tickling and taunting, and images that throw long shadows across the mind, like a cloud over Table Mountain, Pieter-Dirk Uys's new play is an uncompromising view across the bay of our fears and prejudices ... an interesting change of direction.
Alice Coetzee, Pretoria News, 14 August 1987
Panorama by Pieter-Dirk Uys reveals once again how the paraphernalia of apartheid can reduce both blacks and whites to the status of social victims ... a cast that sensitively achieves the ironic symbolism of this intriguing play.
Milton Shulman, Evening Standard, 21 June 1988
The play is a conventional naturalistic drama, a well-constructed piece of craftsmanship, a near-extinct product of a culture nearing extinction ... it is not easy to personalize the massive issues in the play without recourse to some form of sentimentalism, but this succeeds brilliantly sounding the last post with awesome clarity.
Patrick Marmion, London City Limits, 29 June 1988
All the old theatrical magic is still there. Just when you think the action is becoming routine, Uys jabs out a string of truths which make South Africans, punch-drunk from too many underhand political blows, realise that the situation is but a charade, a petty play by fools on a temporary stage. The message is unsettlingly relevant and the play itself is hilarious.
John Michel, Weekly Mail, 11 September 1987
Pieter-Dirk Uys has found a superb setting for his 'comedy of prejudice' and he has also found a ready-made system of farcical mechanics helpfully laid on by the South African government. By South African standards this is an uncommonly delicate play.
Irving Wardle, The London Times, 21 June 1988
South African Pieter-Dirk Uys' well-crafted, compelling play is set in a room with a view. Such a strikingly symbolic setting invests the play's themes of freedom, liberty and imprisonment with powerful ironic resonances.
Georgina Brown, The Independent, 24 June 1988
The writing perfectly catches the mixture of good will and ingrained prejudice that characterises many who consider themselves liberal.
Martin Hoyle, Financial Times, 21 June 1988
Panorama is Pieter-Dirk Uys's best play in years ... it is a trenchant piece of writing, a pitch-black comedy which has Uys on his mettle.
Derek Wilson, The Argus, 9 July 1987
After the bad experiences of recent weeks, I was beginning to despair of local playwrights and directors. But Pieter-Dirk Uys has restored my faith and good humour. This is probably his best play yet. At times Panorama seems like a comedy, but Uys's purpose is always serious. It has the capacity to go beyond preaching to the converted, which so many local playwrights have been doing. Panorama has shown the way forward for our theatre.
David Williams, SA Financial Mail, 11 September 1987
Pieter-Dirk Uys has hit the jackpot with his skilfully crafted new play about Robben Island. Using his trump cards of comedy and satire, Uys's multi-layered work exposes the embarrassing lack of communication and understanding that exists between white and black women of equal education in this country. Evidence of his sharp penetrating eye was everywhere.
Fiona Chisholm, Cape Times, 7 July 1987
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SCORCHED EARTH (1989/English)
Set on an estate, ironically named World's End, the plot has it that the government will expropriate the property which has been in the same family since the time of the early English settlers' arrival in the province (of Natal). As a scenario prophesying decadent disintegration at a family level, brought about by enforced reform, as well as corruption, the play has frightening implications.
Garalt MacLiam, The Star, 3 April 1989
Neither Tennessee Williams nor Arthur Miller could devise a more fecund and dramatically exploitable family situation and the device of using a TV crew who arrives to film the last days of this vanishing era is crisp and ingenious.
Barry Ronge, Sunday Times, 9 April 1989
Scorched Earth goes some way to confronting in the medium of a realistic play about a Natal WASP family who once supported the Nationalists and now find their birthright being given to a bantustan. The play represents a major transition in Uys towards maturity as a playwright. The range of styles in the dialogue and the adult complexity of the situation are utterly absorbing.
Robert Greig, Business Day, 5 April 1989
Pieter-Dirk Uys has a dependable knack for immediacy. Scorched Earth is the latest in a long line of plays and revues that reflect this darting, magpie talent ... humour is the weapon he wields most skilfully ... one of our most prolific playwrights.
Charlotte Bauer, Weekly Mail, 7 April 1989
Pieter-Dirk Uys's latest is a major opus concerning dispossession, displacement and corruption in high places. There is some remarkably fine writing.
Raeford Daniel, The Citizen, 1 April 1989
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JUST LIKE HOME (1989/English)
Uys's play and production represents a notable triumph of common humanity over lacerating experience. He knows the political crimes that have made these people what they are. He knows the landscape of exile, where identities are propped up by reliving the past to the extent of play-acting. His theatrical achievement is to bring these rancorously self-encapsulated victims out into the fresh air, and to place their obsessive melodramas in the wider context of comedy.
Irving Wardle, London Times, October 1989
The white South African Pieter-Dirk Uys is best known in this country for his one man show Adapt or Dye, in which he lays into the injustices of apartheid by impersonating some of his country's more grotesque inhabitants, many of them female. His new play Just like Home is gentler, subtler and more moving. It is still fired by Uys's indignation, but it puts people before politics. He directs his own humane but profoundly pessimistic play with passion.
Charles Spencer, The Daily Telegraph, 23 October 1989
Home, we are told, is where the heart is. But if the heart is divided or in cold storage, where is home then? Pieter-Dirk Uys' funny and touching play looks at this predicament as it affects London's expatriate South Africans, both coloured and white. The play is continuously sharp-eyed about the not-so-little ironies of expatriate life.
Paul Taylor, The Independent, 24 October 1989
... a depth and perception to the play which makes it the best thing Uys has ever written.
Matthew Lewin, Ham and High, 27 October 1989
Layers of illusion and delusion are gently peeled away with affectionate irony. Equally, there are scathing remarks about liberal South African expatriates.
Martin Hoyle, Financial Times, 23 October 1989
This could be the best play Pieter-Dirk Uys has written to date. It is more consistent than most, rivalling in structure and development his masterly Paradise is closing down and it has as its central character the best part Uys has written for a woman since the irrepressible Ester Viljoen in Selle ou Storie. It is a very clever piece of work, superbly realised. It is conceived in anger, in compassion and in love. It is filled with larger-than-life people, seemingly improbable situations, but even at its most extravagant, it never loses its credibility. It is all too human for that. When the tension is at its most unbearable, the agony is relieved by laughter.
Raeford Daniel, The Citizen, 9 March 1989
Just like Home is a bit of everything there's nostalgia, humour, satire, irony.
Merle Huntley, Pretoria News, 10 March 1989
... an honest study of exile (both voluntary and involuntary) and homesickness, new lives and old struggles. The play is warmly convincing in the intimacy of its human relationships.
Meira Cook, Saturday Star, 19 May 1990
This is no ordinary piece of political theatre. Through the personal anguish of those outcast by the system we gain a more intimate insight into the evils of the system itself. By using comedy cheek-by-jowl with depictions of brutality, Uys challenges the audiences preconceptions, whatever their political persuasion ... the play confronts us with the uncomfortable truth of institutional racism on our own doorstep.
Paul Smart, Scotland on Sunday, 27 August 1989
Just like Home is an astutely observed and superbly realised comic-drama with sparkling bitter-sweet dialogue and a story to touch the very core of your being. At the same time it is a searing indictment of the psychological damage apartheid causes everyone who is forced to live with it.
Marianne Thamm, Cape Times, 22 July 1989
Uys always succeeds in making you look at old things in a new way. And that only an artist with vision can do.
The New Nation, 16 March 1989
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GOING TO HEAVEN (1992/2009/Bilingual) [aka Paradise is Closing Down (Revisited)]
Uys's reworking of the play is strikingly effective. His dramatic change of the gender and sexuality of the original which had three women protagonists is a masterly stroke that allows the play to represent the fearful, apocalyptic vision of the future as seen through the eyes of minority groupings here and now. It also enables it to demonstrate the descent into accepting as everyday what were once unspeakable horrors.
Darryl Accone, The Star, 17 July 1992
The writing is peppered with one-liners and a lot of uncomfortable home truths.
Nushin Elahi, The Citizen, 16 July 1992
Pieter-Dirk Uys's Paradise is Closing Down has been revised and honed to capture the political ambience of present-day Cape Town. He has made a good job of it. No farce, it's outrageously funny, yet succeeds in providing the current apocalyptic view through the goings-on of a trio of hedonistic gays.
Financial Mail, 17 July 1992
Hierdie erg-hernieuwde weergawe van Uys se Paradise is Closing Down wat in 1977 vir die eerste keer opgevoer is, is meer kompleks as wat dit aanvanklik wil voorkom. Tussen al die onvermydelike lagbuie deur loop 'n draad kul sinisisme en tasbare somberheid. Die drie mans is almal eensame figure wie se persoonlike probleme en seksualiteit deur die onsekerheid van Suid-Afrikaner-wees net vererger word.
Emile Joubert, Die Burger, 7 July 1992
What a drag! An extremely witty and engaging camp comedy with teeth. The focus moves from the particular the wonderfully pretentious world of three gay men to the general: contemporary South Africa. This must be the freshest interpretation of a changing South Africa; Paradise as it closes down.
Charles King, Grahamstown Festival CUE, 6 July 1992
Living in a place like this at a time like this, it's good to see a playwright readdressing, reassessing and redecorating his work.
Vrye Weekblad, 24 July 1992
Uys has made a few startling changes. The three women are now men, ludicrously attired in drag because they are off to a gay club. When they take time off from bemoaning their fate and slating each other, they comment on the situation. And, while their views are clearly coloured by their own bias and limited perception, it is clear that the prospect of paradise in the 'new' South Africa is no more rosy that it was in the old. It is a diverting piece, with the celebrated Uys wit in full flush.
Raeford Daniel, Weekly Mail, 17 July 1992
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DIE VLEIROOS (1992/Afrikaans)
Dis 'n hele ander Pieter-Dirk Uys wat 'n mens leer ken uit sy nuwe Afrikaanse drama, Die Vleiroos, veertien jaar na sy vorige. Hierdie keer is dit 'n Uys wat met 'n ander soort pieeteit en deernis uit die hart praat oor die ouderdom, oor waardes, oor vriendskap, die natuur, oor hoe die aarde en die mens afgebreek word ... Tog, die humor en ondeundheid bly nie uit nie.... Die teks is 'n ervaring wat diep insink.
Coenie Slabber, Rapport
'n Eenvoudige en menslike storie....roerend en warm...sprankelende dialoog.
Emile Joubert, Die Burger
The play is about vulnerability. It gently explores the susceptibility of nature, ideals and people to what is perceived by some to be development. Die Vleiroos is particularly relevant, not only to those living in the Overberg, but people facing conservation battles around the world.
Dale Kneen, The Argus
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OUMA OSSEWANIA PRAAT VUIL (1997/Afrikaans)
Pieter-Dirk Uys has come up with another winner! Be advised though, don't miss this show. It's a tonic. But be warned it's not for the easily offended.
Cape Argus, 16 September 1997
Hilarious! The quintessential satirist!
The Citizen, 6 May 1997
Sy kom almal by met haar skerp tong.
Die Burger, 3 April 1997
To view this as a show only suitable for lovers of the uncouth and a fondness for toilet humour is missing the point. It is quintessential Pieter-Dirk Uys at his satirical best. By pushing the boundaries of politically-incorrect humour, a forum of sorts is created where the audience has to confront some of their biases.
Charles de Olim, The Star, 24 August 2004
Ouma Ossewania Praat Vuil is plek-plek verrassend snaaks, maar die humor is totaal relevant tot en vervat in haar persoonlikheid. Deur haar oe ervaar ons 'n totale ander blik op ons geskiedenis en die Suid-Afrika van vandag.
Paul Boekkooi, Beeld, 8 October 1997
Die satire-mes is skerper en meer genadeloos as voorheen.
Theunis Engelbrecht, KKNK, April 1997
Daar is soveel skokkende waarheid in wat sy se dat jy glad na jou asem hyg.
Hilda Grobler, Vrydag KZN, March 1998
'n Meesterlike voorstelling ... Pieter-Dirk Uys toon aan ons wat 'n besielende kunstenaar hy werklik is.
Paul Boekkooi, Beeld
This is slick, sharp satire... that adds up to a night out that's enormous fun.
Billy Suter, Natal Mercury
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NO SPACE ON LONG STREET (1997/Bilingual)
Twenty-five years ago the Space Theatre opened its doors in Cape Town... it became the pulsating soul of drama, dance, comedy, puppetry, art, experimentation and madness. No Space on Long Street is a celebration of this energy. But it is also a salute to Long Street ... Pieter-Dirk Uys lived there during his working years at the Space Theatre and got to know the people who lived round the block ... In this one-man show, Uys presents a variety of characters ... all of them the leading actor in their own play.
Temple Hauptfleisch, SA Theatre Journal
Hilariously funny and brilliantly observed and acted in fact, pure vintage Uys. Unforgetable, endearing, subversive! Pieter-Dirk Uys knows where he is going.
Fiona Chisholm, Cape Times, 18 March 1997
A superb performance like this underlines Uys's position as a unique contributor to the South African theatre....his look back takes place in an original, entertaining way ... before your eyes he becomes a vagrant, an old woman, an Italian cafe owner, a Jewish property developer and a member of John Vorster's censorboard.
(translated from) Gabriel Bothma, Die Burger, 18 March 1997
Uys has come up with a clever device for recalling the triumphs and sorrows of that time and place ... the tale is told from outside the premises, by a colourful band of observers and patrons, all played by the author. There is wit and cunning aplenty .. it is worth seeing.
Len Ashton, Cape Argus, 18 March 1997
... contains some of the finest writing and performance art I have ever encountered from the man ... this work is a series of characters whose lives were touched by the phenomenon that, perhaps more than any other, opened the doors to integration in theatre and played a major role in bringing about emancipation in South Africa.
Raeford Daniel, The Citizen, 6 May 1997
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GOING DOWN GORGEOUS (1998)
Uys scorches through four decades using the idioms and thinking process of a Johannesburg kugel. This piece is taut, tense and funny. This Uys script encapsulates our tortured approaches to one another; yet his imperious and capricious playing of Nowell makes her open-mindedness uncomfortable, even shocking, viewed in the context of our country's political separateness. Where Nowell and her like were open, warm and brave, Uys subtly indicates how others held back. He also demonstrates Nowell's background and sensitivities to be her strength. Throughout Uys is a word-spritzer. He is enormously intelligent company.
Mary Jordan, Business Day, 28 May 1999
Pieter-Dirk Uys's Nowell Fine affirms the biting reality of the state of affairs among South Africans then, now and maybe even the future. This one-acter certainly makes one laugh a lot but at the same time one looks back on what a ridiculous nation we were, are and can still be.
Tracy Craucamp, The Citizen, 26 May 1999
Going Down Gorgeous delivers beyond expectations. It's a super slice of satire with Uys at his most ace!
Billy Suter, Natal Mercury, 30 April 1999
Where there are many reasons to forsake a sense of humour in favour of self-fulfilling prophecies of doom and destruction, Nowell Fine gives one a peculiar, even twisted taste of optimism in a world which seems increasingly to bleach the lenses of even the brightest rose-hued specs.
Marc Devenish, The Argus, 20 January 1998
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MARSHROSE (1999/English)
It is a charming, intelligent, compassionate and tender play .... a moving and delightful triumph for Uys.
Natal Daily News
One of the best things he has done....meticulously observed, warmly emphatic, touching and frequently amusing.
Sunday Times
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AUDITIONING ANGELS (2003/English)
Uys should be applauded for tackling difficult subject matter and encouraging people to have the serenity to accept the things they cannot change, and the courage to tackle the things they can.
Christina Kennedy, The Citizen, 14 July 2003
Pieter-Dirk Uys's latest play proves that he is undoubtedly one of South Africa's greatest storytellers. It is set in one of the top hospitals in present-day Gauteng where the sick and dying are neglected and facelifts receive priority. Usually regarded as a place of healing and shelter, it is turned into a war zone where a family is forced to face a past that has caused them to drift apart. During a time of reconciliation, infliction and reflection, Uys allows us to look at the realities we try to ignore, and lies we tend to cling to. It is not an easy journey, but never painful, occasionally slipping into razor-sharp wit. Uys brilliantly captures a human truth: despite our differences, there are moments that make us forget the worst and remember what it is like to smile.. We are all 'auditioning angels'; there is hope in our struggle to embrace our humanity and overcome the weaknesses that imprison us.
News24, 15 August 2003
...a rare treat...
Diane de Beer, Pretoria News, 13 July 2003
Auditioning Angels is a theatrical gem .. strikes at the heart of our contemporary society .... a pressure-cooker of emotions ... anyone with a shred of concern for the world they live in should expose themselves to this play.
Aldrin Naidu, Cape Argus, 18 August 2003
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SAME OLD STORY (2004/English)
Playfully dazzling in structure and laceratingly funny, Pieter-Dirk Uys's Same Old Story is post-apartheid theatre come into its own. Using the gay aesthetic, he takes South African protest theatre into new territory. Uys's work has always been subversive: Same Old Story is a post-apartheid subversion whose charge is less in what is said but how it is said, how reality is treated as fictional and how subversion itself is defined as sexual ambiguity. Technique is an embedded view of the world. Uys's glittering, unstable technique makes South African protest theatre seem glum, gauche and old fashioned.
Robert Greig, The Sunday Independent, 19 September 2004
It is interesting what the passing of time does to people and to humanity. Todays present is tomorrows past. Time is a useful tool in the hands of a dramatist. This is powerfully demonstrated in Same Old Story, the 2004-version of Pieter-Dirk Uys's controversial 1974 play Selle Ou Storie. It is an extremely relevant play, not depending on the constant dismembering of the people in it. There are too many hilarious moments and one-liners to lift the drama.
(translated from) Kobus Burger, Beeld, 22 September 2004
The script is brilliant, if often chilling stuff.
Diane de Beer, Pretoria News, 21 September 2004
Same Old Story is not strictly an English translation (of Selle Ou Storie), but a fully-fledged and enjoyable comedy-drama in its own right ... enough meat on its bones and an alarming twist to hold its own. Uys has written this tale of pretences in such a way that it is witty, wicked, modern, saucy and crackling with human drama.
Christine Kennedy, The Citizen, 27 September 2004
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NOEL & MARLENE (1998)
Reinventing the past, the self and the legendary Noel Coward and Marlene Dietrich is what this wonderful fanciful foray back to a Sunday afternoon in a New York apartment in 1953 is all about. Uys and Johnson have created a witty, nostalgic and highly entertaining show that is bound to appeal to a discerning audience. Noel & Marlene is inspiring theatre, a genre of its own. If Coward and Dietrich can be reinvented, so can we all.
Wilhelm Snyman, Cape Times, 18 August 1998
A smart show that bristles with wit. Uys's script is first class. Coward's Wildean wickedness and Dietrich's lack of any sense of humour is the meat of Uys's show. He plays them off against each other to bring out their secret as well as public lives. It's a hoot..
Peter Frost, The Argus, 26 August 1998
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MACBEKI (2008)
**** MacBeki has to be [Uys'] most ambitious foray into the body politic yet. ... a wily comedy, a political satire, a compelling tragedy, rolled into one.
Adrienne Sichel, Tonight, 7 April 2009
Uys, takes his wit and humour to a new and truly fabulous level. ... MacBeki is satirical social commentary at its best.
Poppie Mphuthing, The Times, 15 April 2009
MacBeki uses Shakespearean references, urban legends, rumour and poetic licence in a sweeping Machiavellian ("MacBekivellian" to Uys) narrative about the lust for power and the ruin it brings the protagonist.
Percy Zvomuya, Mail & Guardian, 3 April 2009
MacBeki sparkles and fizzes with Uys particular satirical genius. This is the first theatrical rendering in 15 years that directly confronts and exposes those who would wield enormous power over our lives. And all this in an election year. The relief at seeing these "remote" figures pilloried and exposed in such a hilarious fashion is cathartic and downright good for democracy.
With MacBeki, Uys draws together the many strands that contribute to his singular status as one of the most important, influential and versatile public voices in the country.
Marianne Thamm, capetheatre.co.za, 26 February 2009
In MACBEKI , playwright and satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys has dug deeply, searching Shakespeares play to find hidden riches, seams to explore, small, shocking ideas and tiny secrets that reveal or give away an enormous amount about our own political predicaments. ... When he messes about with the text, there is the immediate excitement of contrasting energies; and, as the characters move from one intense emotion to another, all manner of unexpected things are released.
Uyss unstuffy approach creates a broad, pantomimic atmosphere, filled with breezy confidence and irreverent gusto. Everything is artfully arranged to give plenty of laughs and the show has the pulse of real life. Ingenuity such as this is a real tonic among the alarms and excursions of SA today.
Mary Jordan, Business Day, 14 April 2009
Uyss Shakespearean-inspired script airs the countrys dirty laundry with glee, laughing at the hypocrisy and chiding the inadequacies. When its not eliciting a giggle, or a gasp of shock, Uyss dialogue is extremely hard-hitting. Kudos to Uys and his cast for providing some sobering perspectives just ahead of the elections.
Natalie Bosman, The Citizen, 6 April 2009
Sometimes political situations in this wonderful country of ours really do play out like dramatic Shakespearean plays with twists and turns, betrayals and love affairs and in the end it all turns out to be a bit of a joke. Pieter-Dirk Uys has done just this with MacBeki, making the current South African political divisions hilariously funny using Shakepeare's famous tragedy, "MacBeth" as the scene and setting. The plot however is thicker than Shakespeare could ever have imagined. Congratulations to Mr Uys, it's a true South African beauty.
Sindy Peters, bizcommunity.com, 3 March 2009
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More Plays will be released presently.
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Being prepared for this website in the near future:
*****Full texts of Pieter-Dirk Uys' one-man shows:
Adapt or Dye
Total Onslaught 1984
Beyond the Rubicon
Truth Omissions
A Kiss on Your Koeksister
You ANC Nothing Yet
One Man One Volt
An Evening with Pieter-Dirk Uys
Tannie Evita Praat Kaktus
Dekaffirnated
For Fact's Sake
Symbols of Sex and State
Foreign Aids
The End is Naai
Icons & Aikonas
******And of the two-handers with Chris Galloway and Lizz Meiring:
Rearranging the Deckchairs on the SA Bothatanic
Cry FreeMandela (the movie)
An Audience with Evita Bezuidenhout
*****And the musical-cabarets with Godfrey Johnson:
Concentration Camp
Bambi in Kabaret
WATCH THIS SPACE
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