#HeTwo!-3

REVIEWS of #HETWO: EVITA EXPOSED! in DURBAN — NOVEMBER 2019

Double the fun: an Uys showdown

Stage: #HeTwo: Evita Exposed — Durban’s Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre (from November 19 to 24)

– Billy Suter, sosuterbill.com, 15 November 2019

THE grand master/dame of South African satire, like that grand ol’ Mississippi River, just keeps rolling along…

Living legend Pieter-Dirk Uys, who turned 74 in September, shows no signs of slowing down in his new touring show, #He Two: Evita Exposed, which, for the first time, has him and his alter-ego of 38 years, Evita Bezuidenhout, on stage at the same time.

They reflect on their times together, their successes and the people with whom they have crossed, and continue to cross, paths. And what a treat that all proves, as they heckle one another and continually nudge and wink in a fascinating retrospective of their conjoined careers.

With Evita appearing in the flesh or on a suspended screen — in both new and historical film footage dating back to the late 1970s — she and Uys continually nudge and wink in a fascinating showdown that sometimes has them and the audience questioning exactly where reality and fake news begin and end.

They loosely chronicle their times in the spotlight, relaying anecdotal moments involving TV shows, awards ceremonies and awkward situations. They also nod to just about everyone from Nelson Mandela, P W Botha, Piet Koornhof and Pik Botha, to Tannie’s kugel sister Noelle Fine, her gardener/lover Nimrod, and Tannie’s sweet Cape Malay maid.

On a stage bare but for a small table and chair alongside a suspended screen, we first meet Uys in a curly grey wig and scarf, as David Attenborough, presiding over the funeral of Tannie Evita, and making animalistic references. It is stated under a photo of South Africa’s most famous white woman, that she graced the Earth from 1935 to 2019 (yes, Pieter-Dirk has always said Evita is 10 years his senior).

It isn’t long, however, before both Evita and Pieter-Dirk make it clear that the old girl is still very much alive and, well-ja, kicking! Not easily, nor quietly, is this icon of the African South, the queen of koeksusters and bobotie, going to quietly disappear.

During the course of the next hour-plus, without an interval, the audience is entertained with fascinating film footage and a delightful series of sketches, with quick costume changes, that explain why both Uys and Tannie have become widely adored, honoured, feared and loved while becoming a part of South African history.

The audience is treated to delicious entertainment that positively crackles with mickey-takes, spot-on impersonations, observational humour, stabbing wit and, with references both old and bang up to the minute, as much nuanced food for thought as tickle for the funnybone.

It is an outpouring of memories and memory-making that no fan can afford to miss, and which amounts to a great précis for any newcomer to this legend’s clout. Long may both Pieter-Dirk and Evita reign!

Booking is at Computicket.

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#HeTwo Review

– Chris Sutton, Publicity Matters, 21 November 2019

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said that “Evita Bezuidenhout is not a woman, Evita Bezuidenhout is a legend.” And 25 years after his veritable tent full of clowns relinquished power to a new dispensation, Pieter-Dirk Uys still makes the legendary Tannie relevant. In a series of movie clips and on stage appearances, Pieter-Dirk Uys reveals how and why he came to create the character who has become his alter ego. Somewhat alarmingly the opening picture on the screen gives the audience the impression that Evita may have passed away. Fortunately it is simply a timeline for her life thus far. The movie clips include a particularly clever scene of movie credits being spelled out on a scrabble board.

PDU remains one of South Africa’s greatest ambassadors, sharing his belief that the good people of this troubled land will hold firm and keep South Africa prominent as a democracy in a world that is testing the political concept to breaking point. P.W. Botha – aka The Groot Krokodil – is still a favourite in his shows. It is ironic that The Great Locust, who stole some of the lustre from South Africa’s Rainbow, doesn’t get a mention; but that’s because he probably isn’t deserving of a place in Mr Uys’ box of props.

Whilst the closing scene has Pieter darkly suggesting that the forces that tried to silence him in the past are starting to manifest themselves in the new order, he urges South Africans to remain optimistic – to always believe that the glass is half full. Highly recommend – this is a very cleverly constructed piece of theatre, not a rehash of old shows.

PS’s…

Cellphone man is still on strike – but his warnings would have been superfluous as no one would dare let their phone ring when PDU is on the stage!

There is no interval so if you treat yourself to a libation at the bar before the show, be aware that it will have to remain in the ballast tank for at least 80 minutes.

Show Details:

Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre

Thursday 21 November and Friday 22 November both at 7.30pm; Saturday 23 November and Sunday 24 November both at 3pm

Tickets cost between R130 and R160 and are available through Computicket

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Face to face with his alter ego

– Estelle Sinkins, The Witness, 19 November 2019

FOR the first time in 40 years Evita Bezuidenhout comes face to face with the man who has been impersonating her for decades, Pieter-Dirk Uys.

Confused? Well, that’s not really surprising, because the moment when it actually happens is definitely surreal and has you questioning your sanity.

It’s also hilarious to see Uys getting a stern ticking off from his alter ego for constantly making fun of her. As Uys says, just because she isn’t real doesn’t mean that she doesn’t exist. Even Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu is a believer, saying in a clip: “Evita Bezuidenhout is not a woman; Evita Bezuidenhout is a legend.”

And Nelson Mandela requested the famous Afrikaans tannie’s presence at an ANC rally in Retreat in Cape Town.

While Uys would have preferred to meet the former president as himself, he couldn’t resist the request and the chance to be able to say he’d once “seen the ANC in Retreat”.

So he turned up at the rally in an orange, white and blue meringue of a frock with a plate of koeksusters to see Madiba and soon had everyone eating out of Evita’s hand.

#HeTwo: Evita Exposed opens with the apparent death of the most famous white woman in South Africa, announced by living legend Sir David Attenborough. It prompts a gasp from those in the audience.

But we soon discover that, like Mark Twain once remarked, reports of her death have been greatly exaggerated.

On a stage bare of everything except a big screen and a small table and chair, Uys takes us back through Evita’s life, from her childhood in the Free State to the corridors of political power and the world stage.

We learn what life was like before she was the wife of Oom Hasie, a National Party minister in the Verwoerd cabinet, and the South African ambassador in the independent black homeland republic of Bapetikosweti.

All this history is revealed through old footage from Uys’ shows, television interviews, his own interviews on M-Net’s Funigalore and appearances at events like the Teddy (or as Uys calls it, the gay brother of the Golden Bear) award at the Berlin Film Festival.

In between the film footage Uys appears on stage as himself and as a few of his more iconic characters — Jewish kugel, PFP member and liberal Nowell Fine, Pik “I wasn’t there” Botha, former president P.W. Botha, whose hat comes complete with devil horns, and the Bezuidenhouts’ former domestic worker, Mrs Petersen.

Looking back over the 40 years Uys and Evita have spent lampooning the political elite in South Africa, and more especially when he was doing it while wearing drag in the dark days of apartheid, you truly appreciate how important freedom of speech is.

It’s something we need to treasure, just as we need to treasure two of the country’s most iconic people. So, go and celebrate four decades of fun with them at the Elizabeth Sneddon this week.

• #HeTwo: Evita Exposed is at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on the Howard College campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban until November 24. Tickets can be booked at Computicket.

• estelle.sinkins@witness.co.za

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