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Uys magic for 'voorkamers'

– Peter Tromp, Top of the Times, 25 August 2006

Meeting a living icon is a surreal experience. To hear that he is still as vitally involved in fighting the good fight for the disenfranchised and overlooked is energising. I am, of course, talking about Pieter-Dirk Uys, the impromptu, semi-official face of the little town of Darling.

As a resident of Darling, he has been at the vanguard of arts developments to uplift the community, especially with his kitsch palace Evita se Perron, the centrepiece of tourist attractions.

"I don't think people know exactly how our small towns are suffering at the moment in this country, especially the disenfranchised communities," he says.

One of the initiatives that is putting Darling in the spotlight once more is the Voorkamer Festival from September 8 to 10. The title refers to the fact that during the weekend of the festival, the living rooms of select Darling inhabitants will be transformed into theatrical spaces that will feature some of our best known performers.

"Somebody might be a domestic worker in real life, but for that weekend they will be transformed into a Broadway producer," says Uys. "As this year's festival developed, I looked around me and it literally occurred to me that this is changing lives."

The idea originated three years ago when a troupe of Dutch artists brought the idea to South Africa. Previous Voorkamer festivals almost exclusively featured Dutch artists, but this year's festival will see a flood of local talent descend on 15 Darling houses.

The growth of the festival in recent years has convinced Uys that there is room for more expansion. "I think in the next few years it is going to become a franchise that might spread to other towns," he says.

"This and other arts festivals across the country are particularly positive, I think, because it has shown people that they don't have to wait for the million rands from the arts council. They can take the initiative themselves."

This festival is part of a larger celebration of Darling for the duration of September, simply called the Hello Darling Festival. As can be expected, Uys's most famous invention, Tannie Evita Bezuidenhout, will be at the centre of the action.

This celebration of everything Darling is particularly close to the heart of Uys because he took a wrong turn on his way to McGreggor 10 years and ended up in the 'dorpie'.

"That's like going to China and ending up in Brazil," he laughs.

He fell in love with the town almost instantaneously and bought a house there. He also discovered the disused train station that would become Evita se Perron at the same time. "At the time it was being used by a plumber or a carpenter or something, but now the community uses it as a community centre.

"Honestly, this has been the best thing in my life."

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