Archived Reviews of The Echo of a Noise
REVIEWS of THE ECHO OF A NOISE in CAPE TOWN — JUNE 2016
‘The Echo of a Noise’ unique
– Steyn Du Toit, Cape Times, 8 June 2016
WHAT remains after everything’’s been said and done? When all the wigs and characters have been packed away, who is the individual left standing alone in the spotlight?
These are some of the questions grappled with when the curtain slides away to reveal Pieter-Dirk Uys at the start of his new solo production, The Echo of a Noise.
Arriving in Cape Town following its debut during last year’s National Arts Festival (NAF) in Grahamstown, the piece marks both the Evita Bezuidenhout collaborator’s 70th birthday, as well as his fifth decade of entertaining, educating and inspiring global audiences.
There are, however, no high heels or glitzy gowns this time around.
In fact, the Divine Mrs E — nor the rest of the pantheon of motley characters Uys has created over the years — do not even make an appearance. Apart from the ghost of PW Botha’s ever-wagging finger that is…
Instead, the viewer is granted a unique opportunity to plug into the stream of consciousness about to flow from this formidable raconteur’s mouth. And what a profound 90-minute journey it turns out to be!
While the production is described as a one-man memoir, don’t expect a chronological relating of key events from Uys’ life and career, nor a tell-all in which juicy industry secrets and romps are revealed (hopefully the latter will follow later).
Presented largely, instead, as a collection of vignettes drawn from his childhood and early career, the result is a touching and intensely personal meditation wrapped in a bright, light-hearted package.
Flavoured with the kind of vivid anecdotes and seemingly effortless quips audiences have come to love about him over the years, by the end of The Echo of a Noise one leaves with rare and privileged insight into Uys’ past.
He is both the echo of the “noise” originally created by his forefathers, grandparents and parents, as well as the one who made the actual noise with his activism and rule-breaking antics during South Africa’s darkest hour.
From growing up in Pinelands to hearing Mozart for the first time to falling in love with Sophia Loren, along the way he also introduces us to those individuals who’ve had a profound impact on the trajectory of his life and early career.
More than anyone else, however, it is/was his relationship with his parents — Hannes Uys and Helga Bassel — that features most prominently and most often. Not only is it something that we can all relate to, but one suspects it is the thing most of us will spend the rest of our lives trying to make sense of.
While the unconditional love he has for Helga and “Oom Hannes”, to this day it is never brought into question, it is the revelation of those related elements that were difficult and/ or tragic to deal with that makes this production cut so much deeper than a mere evening’s worth of entertainment.
These include Uys’ mother’s suicide, his fraught relationship with his father, growing up under a traditional NG church suburban bubble, as well as becoming the poster child for those in charge of censorship during apartheid.
Not only are these details frankly and bravely shared with the viewer, but they will arrive as a beacon of relatability to those who might also still be trying to shake the Calvinistic ‘babalas’ from their system.
Compelling, fighting fit at 70 and with the phrase “Almost Famous” ironically printed on his hoodie, at the end of The Echo of a Noise Uys appears more determined and in charge of his craft than ever before.
“Check your lipstick before you come and talk to me,” Naomi Campbell once barked at an out-of-line aspiring model in a YouTube clip that’s well worth looking up.
For the first time pulling out some rouge (red) from his pocket before defiantly applying it to his lips during the production’s last few seconds, let that be a warning to all of us as he takes on the next 70.
THE ECHO OF A NOISE. Written and performed by Pieter-Dirk Uys. At Theatre on the Bay, Camps Bay from Tuesday to Saturday until June 18 at 8pm.
Scene It: A beautiful echo of nostalgia
– Barbara Loots, Theatre Scene Cape Town, 7 June 2016
In The Echo of a Noise, Pieter-Dirk Uys entices the audience by doing the inverse to what we are accustomed to… he dresses down… actually more than down. When the curtain goes up, it is just him, looking you straight in the eyes without even a smidgen of lipstick or the hint of a wig.
The Echo of a Noise is not his normal satirical show, it is a soul-baring honest memoir brought to stage by the one who can tell the story best… the one you lived the tale.
The show takes you on the life journey of little Pietertjie Uys, who shares all his trials, tribulations and triumphs — as he grows into the legendary stage personality that today is Pieter-Dirk Uys — as if you are the closest of friends, until finally revealed sits the legend we all adore today.
Upon reflection of the story that unfolds you realise that The Echo of a Noise is not really just the story of Pieter(tjie), but rather the story of “Pa and Bokkie”, as it becomes clear that Pieter-Dirk Uys was greatly influenced by his father, whom he always loved but maybe not always liked. The one’s search for identity and acceptance intrinsically linked to the other.
Through his honest telling you are captured by the heart and soul that is Pieter-Dirk Uys. A man who through his experiences, graduated from the University of Imagination, got a masters from the University of Courage and now has a Doctorate from the University of Life.
Sitting in conversation with him in this “show” (I use this word very loosely because it is so much more than a mere production), time feels like it is standing still, as you hang onto every word of this skilled story teller. You sit in amazement as he reveals how his fascination with Sophia Loren developed into the most unique perhaps even lifesaving friendship, how he battled the ignorance of Publications Board with self-created “swear” words, realised he could be more of a true activist, and how a need to feed his beloved thinning cat resulted in him creating his first show ‘Adapt or Die’ with PW Botha as social commentary character inspiration.
Ultimately theatre friend Charmaine van der Merwe sums up the feeling behind The Echo of a Noise best:
“Absolutely brilliant – I am nostalgic about someone else’s life! It was simply beautiful. The right amount of everything. A must must see!”
Don’t miss the opportunity to see the truly inspirational and unpowdered Pieter-Dirk Uys onstage at Theatre on the Bay in the brilliant The Echo of a Noise before run ends 18 June 2016. You will never look at trains and little towns like Darling the same again. Book your tickets at Computicket.
Teaterresensie: The Echo of a Noise deur Pieter-Dirk Uys
– Maryke Roberts, Litnet, 3 Junie 2016
The Echo of a Noise
Pieter-Dirk Uys
Theatre on the Bay
31 Mei tot 18 Junie, Dinsdae tot Saterdae om 20:00.
Kaartjies by Computicket en die teaterkaartjiekantoor, 021 438 3301
Geen resensie kan reg laat geskied of waarlik hulde bring aan The Echo of a Noise, die jongste eenmanvertoning van Pieter-Dirk Uys nie.
Jy kan nie een van ons grootste akteurs, stemme, satiriste, teksskrywers, kampvegters en HIV-opvoeders enigiets leer van teater as hy al meer as 7 000 maal alleen op verhoë reg oor die wêreld opgetree het nie.
Die vertoning is Pieter-Dirk Uys op ’n stoeltjie op ’n reuse donker verhoog, ’n straal lig wat hom omvou. Vir 90 minute stap jy saam deur sy lewe: die vrese en vreugdes van ’n jong seun wat in die 40’s en 50’s in Pinelands grootword. Sy pa, Hannes, vir wie hy bang is, sy ma, Helga Bassel -– sy vertroueling en veilige vesting met haar herinneringe van ’n Berlyn voor dit vertroebel is deur politiek — sy suster Tessa en sy “Kaapse Vlakte-ma”, Sannie.
Hy vertel van die optredes in die Kaapse stadsaal, uitstappies na die see, laggende toeriste op die stoomtrein, hy wat sing terwyl sy pa hom begelei op troues en ander sosiale geleenthede, sy liefde vir Sophia Loren, sy ma se selfdood. Hy raak somber as hy in die gehoor in staar en sê: “Jy herstel nooit daarvan nie.”
Hy is gestroop, eerlik, oordenkend, openhartig en vreesloos, maar o, so weerloos op daardie verhoog.
Gestroop van enige masker soos lipstiffie, ’n pruik, ’n rok of hoëhakskoene waarmee hy agter Tannie Evita of Bambi Kellerman se rokspante kan skuil nie. Geen swart hoedjie of kaftan van PW Botha of Desmond Tutu om die fokus van hom weg te lei nie.
Met sy gebreide swart hoedjie en hemp met Almost Famous bedruk, lyk hy meer soos ’n ou visser wat mymerend oor sy 70 lewensjare terugkyk.
Hierdie stuk is meer as ’n nostalgiese lewensreis saam met ’n bekroonde akteur. Dis ’n raar kykie in die siel van iemand wie se lewe regtig aan die kunste gewy is. Iemand wat nie gestuit het voor die destydse sensuurraad of kritiek of vervolging van die apartheidsregering nie. Iemand wat nie omgee om jou in die diepste skuiling van sy hart te neem nie. Hy dryf met homself die spot, net so maklik soos hy dit met ander doen.
En voor jy jou kon kry biggel ’n traan oor jou wang as hy van sy pa se siekte praat, herleef jy weer ’n geliefde se siekte en sterfte. Voel jy ook weerloos en oopgevlek, al sit jy in die donker gehoor.
Hy is ’n meesterlike storieverteller, sonder arrogansie of selfbeheptheid. En eendag as hy nie meer daar is nie, gaan mense waarlik besef watter diep spore hy nou eintlik getrap het, sonder dat ons regtig aandag gegee het.