An Audience with Pieter-Dirk EISH will usher in the Cape Town-born playwright, satirist, actorvist and, in this case, stage-manager's 70th year. He's been doing this 'thing' for so long, some people even call it a career. And for the first time, his focus is not just on the glitter and glamour of the stage, but the laughter and excitement of the audience.
Members of every night's celebration of South African humour will have a chance to choose a numbered box. Uys will then share the character, the story and the uniqueness of this presentation which will be different at every performance.
On the red carpet of fame and infamy Pieter Toerien's Montecasino Theatre will host familiar legendary Uys characters like Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout, Nowell Fine, bergies and Bothas.
A white racist voter from 1985 morphs into a white conservative voter in 2015, still thinking the same pollically-incorrect thoughts, but grateful for the job his BEE bosses have given him. 'Cyril for President' is what the
Big Issue vendor suggests, while an tired member of the Cape Minstrels shares a bitter-sweet ode to the Mother City. Mrs Petersen from the Cape Flats, already beloved by many in the Cape, is having to fill in the complicated UK tourist visa form to go and see her family in Manchester, while Nelson's warder at the old Vic Verster Prison waits for buses of tourists to arrive as the Robben Island boats are still broken. A sinister Grace Mugabe shares her ambitions to be Zimbabwe's Number One in song, while Winnie, the mother of the nation, demands an audition before she allows a white satirist to make fun of a black majority.
Evita's sister Bambi Kellermann isn't shy about talking more than birds and bees, and Madiba recalls the once-reverred total transparency of ANC policy. While Uys was heavily censored during the apartheid era, he ironically refers to the Publications Control Board as his PR Department who corrected the way he misspelt certain Afrikaans four letter words. President Zuma showers everyone with smiles and good stories that few will believe, while a some memorable reminders of what horrors the past got away with, will make one wonder if history is in fact repeating itself in South Africa behind our backs.
An Audience with Pieter-Dirk EISH promises to be a unique way to remember where South Africans come from and to celebrate where the country is going. There will be 20 boxes to choose from, so a few visits to that special theatre at Montecasino between Tuesday, 17 March and Sunday, 12 April might allow peole a grand slam of Uys's complete satirical cluster.
Tickets for
An Audience with Pieter-Dirk EISH are available via
Computicket.
Performances start at 20:00 from Tuesday to Friday; 17:00 on Saturdays; and 15:00 and 20:00 on Sunday.
Group bookings can be made by calling 011 511 1988.