From 22 to 28 February Port Elizabeth will become PDU Country as Pieter-Dirk Uys’ presents two of his sell out shows: Evita Bezuidenhout & The Kaktus of Separate Development from 22 to 24 February nightly at 7:00 pm wil be followed by Uys’ one-man memoir – The Echo of a Noise – at the Little Theatre in Port Elizabeth from 26 to 28 February at 7:00pm.
Ahead of his shows www.MyPE.co.za got the opportunity to pose a few questions to the great man, and they went like this:
Q: Do you have a farewell ode to Jacob Zuma?
A. Number One is now firmly in Number Two!
Q. Or a welcome for Cyril?
A. Good luck cleaning the cat’s sandbox in Luthuli House defiled by all the fat cats with their Saxonwold (how do you spell diaorea???)
Q.Maybe a recipe for a special trout dish?
A. Evita would never presume to lead in the kitchen when a master of his trade flips the pancakes!
Q.How do you feel about the monniker WHITE, as in the most famous White Lady in South Africa?
A. As a member of the ANC Tannie says she feels, as the only white in the building, that she glows in the dark.
Q. Is it necessary?
A. Evita regards her three black grandchildren as Barack Obama Beige – so she’ll be happy to stick to off-white
Q. How would you prefer to be identified?
A. Entertainer. And a living product of state capture who makes sure that such a history will not be allowed to repeat itself as farce
Q. As the original satirist who took the antics of early day politicians and turned them into a comedy product how do you feel about the ‘new-age’ comedians who have ridden your wave of an idea?
A. I wish them well in this minefield. I hope they realize that the only way to find the mines is to step on them and maybe even lose your life. And that nothing happens overnight. This is not IDOLS. It’s hard work.
Q. Are you comfortable having your shows labeled as being “firmly aimed at older white South Africans”? (Daily Maverick – Lesley Stones, May 2017)
A. Older white SAfricans have the money and the time. Much of my material reflects their lives as well. My younger audience sits with their Google active.
Q. Do you have any characters up your sleeve who are more in the vein of shock comedians like Jim Jefferies?
A. I did that for 25 years. They were our leaders.
Q. Why the Kaktus of Separate Development when there is so much more content available from Jacob Zuma?
A. Yes, but Zuma is gone and apartheid pretends to be – and yet separate developments are happening around us in many areas.
Q. What blows my mind is the amount of comedic content coming from many comedians commenting on Trump – is Evita considering venturing into comments/a show on world leaders?
A. She was harassed by Trump in a lift in 1985. But as she says: I look at Donald Trump and I am grateful for Julius Malema.
Q. Can we not just get over the past and concentrate on the future?
A. Yes. But we must know where we come from, so that we don’t fall into the same pits.
Q. There is this feeling in my mind that I would like to get to know PDU better – will Echo of a Noise make your audience go away feeling satisfied that they have seen a glimpse of your private self that is good and make them want more from you as a satirist?
A. It seems to be doing just that. I am very pleased and quite shocked how universal the piece is. Most people look at the frame I present and add their own picture. We all identify with a father, a mother, a dream, a shock and much awe.
Q. Is Echo of a Noise your stage autobiography – in other words are you preparing your legions of fans for your retirement?
A. No, retyrement is a word I can’t even bother to spell properly. I am 72; as long as I have health and patience, I’ll be around.
Q. Tell us about your one great love that you lost?
A. Every cat that has to die is a great loss.
Q. And the one that you found?
A. I don’t want to talk about those things, in case they fly away, but I am very happy to be very happy.
Alan Straton
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