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April 07, 2008
Pieter-Dirk Uys at Zero Arrow Theatre
I got a chance last night to go see Elections and Erections, a one-man show by Pieter Dirk Uys (as part of the American Repetory's blogger outreach program). I hadn't known a lot about him before I went; the best way I can describe him is as a South African, more political version of Eddie Izzard. In that you have to be pretty smart to keep up with him, he frequently calls back to jokes from earlier in the show, and he does much of his performance in a dress.
Calling what Uys does a "one-man show" isn't exactly accurate, either, since half of his act is performed in costume and in various characters. He even does a puppet show. Some of his characters are inventions (like his Evita Bezuidenhout, a flat-out mockery of Afrikaner upper-middle-class morality), and some are real (Mother Theresa, Bishop Tutu, and Winnie Mandela all show up during the program). All contribute to his relentless skewering of South African society and its awkward transition from its despicable past into its uncertain future.
It certainly would have helped to know more about South African politics than I did, but Uys does a remarkable job breaking it down for ignorant Americans. (Like the piece of work that is the country's Minister of Health, who thinks AIDS can best be fought with a garlic and beetroot diet.)
Uys does a really nice job balancing the funny with the intensely personal. He tells one gripping story of an apartheid-era fling that, if discovered, would have ended with him in big trouble and the other guy probably killed. It's kind of jarring after the funny bits, but it really does illuminate some of the fear and insanity of the time.
The show will be playing at the American Repertory's Zero Arrow Theatre in Harvard Square until May 5th; many of the shows will also involve guest speakers and political discussions about South Africa's past and future. The whole schedule is on the ART's website, and is definitely worth checking out.
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