Evita strips off her eyelashes: Pieter-Dirk Uys shares his life story on stage

30 March 2017 - 12:08 By Staff reporter
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Pieter-Dirk Uys on the rocks at Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, in 1990.
Pieter-Dirk Uys on the rocks at Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, in 1990.
Image: Courtesy of Pieter-Dirk Uys

Pieter-Dirk Uys will be alone on the Studio Theatre stage at Montecasino until April 9 for his acclaimed one-man memoir 'The Echo of a Noise'.

In it he tells the story of the small signposts that have pointed him in the right direction throughout his life. He recently turned 71 and has over 7,000 performances to his name.

Uys removes the masks, the eyelashes and the personas and opens his heart, taking audiences on a journey into his public and private life.

He shares the personal mythologies and histories that led him to the stage, and tells of the influences in his life - his father, Hannes Uys, and mother Helga Bassel, his grandmothers, his teachers and his passions.

Uys describes it as a tale of "a boy who was stricken by the disease to please from an early age, overshadowed by church and school and a very strict father". He has always used humour as a "weapon of mass distraction".

This is the first time that Uys has told the story behind the stories as he takes his audiences into his confidence with his masterful storytelling, tongue-lashing wit and self-effacing humour.

"I think now that I've passed that road sign that says 'You can speed over 70 now' I can leave the security blankets of characters and the disguise of monsters, madams and moffies and just tell the stories behind the story."

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'The Echo of a Noise' runs from March 22 to April 9 at the Studio Theatre, Montecasino, Johannesburg.

This article was originally published in The Times.

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