Pieter Fourie – His voice will never be silent.

(3 April 1940 – 12 September 2021)

Pieter Fourie’s passing on 12 September 2021 leaves an endless echo in the theatre realm.

Fourie initially started his creative career by trying his hand at poetry. In 1965 the first of his poems was published in magazines like Standpunte, culminating in his debut as a poet at the age of 77 when his first book of poetry knapsekêrels was published in 2017. However, early in his career his attention became fixed on writing for the theatre. He eventually published nineteen dramas and three plays for children’s theatre, some of which were translated into English. The well-known film production of Fourie’s Faan se trein was released commercially on the film circuit in 2014 and won nine awards at the kykNET Silwerskerm film festival.

Fourie excelled as a film and television actor, director, and playwright, and also as a stage actor and theatre administrator. In 1967 he was appointed head of the Afrikaans theatre division of the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) and within the following year took the position of its first chief director. Some years later he also became the first chief director of the Klein-Karoo national arts festival (KKNK) of which he was one of the architects. Evidence of his enormous contribution as policymaker and trendsetter on the broader Afrikaans theatre front is found in the various roles he played as a theatre administrator, being one of the initiators of the theatre festival on campuses started by the Afrikaans theatre and cultural organisation (ATKV), being a judge at the Logan Festival and the Sanlam Prize for Afrikaans theatre, as well as becoming a member of the board of trustees of the state president’s Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) in 1997. As theatre administrator and playwright for CAPAB, the Performing Arts Council of Transvaal (PACT), and the KKNK, Fourie fought side by side with fellow artists rebelling against often constricting systems such as censorship. Facing extremely challenging political and social circumstances following ructions at the Baxter and Joseph Stone theatres, he succeeded in establishing the Nico Malan Theatre in Cape Town.

Professor Nico Luwes, fellow playwright and former head of the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of the Free State, as well as a personal friend of Fourie, lists the well-deserved accolades Fourie was awarded during his lifetime:

“In 1966 he received the medallion of honour for theatre arts and the Gerhard Beukes Prize from the South African Academy of Science and Arts; in 2000 and 2001 two FNB Vita Awards for Boetman is die bliksem in; and the Nagtegaal Prize for Afrikaans theatre was also awarded to him.

For his contribution to the growth of the KKNK, the promotion of tourism in Oudsthoorn and the region, as well as promoting and upholding Afrikaans, he was honoured in 2003 by the Oudsthoorn Chamber of Commerce. From the University of Stellenbosch, he received a special award for his outstanding contribution to the South African theatre industry in 2003. In the same year, he won the much sought-after Hertzog Prize for drama honouring all his published dramatical work up to that year. In 2006 he received the Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for his special contribution as an exceptional, versatile theatre practitioner, as an arts manager, cultural festival organiser, actor, director, and playwright. The KKNK awarded him the Afrikaans Onbeperk Prize in 2010 for his ‘life contribution’. He receives an honorary doctorate – D.Litt. (honoris causa) in drama – from the University of the Free State (UFS) in 2011.”

Experimenting with drama techniques, Fourie made a breakthrough in the field of Afrikaans drama. From the beginning a clear characteristic of his work was his interest in and almost obsession with the Afrikaner. This implied a dissection of the soul of the Afrikaner: his prejudices, fears, and dreams. Prominent in his style was his effortless transition from naturalistic realism to more experimental theatre and even farces. Not only the ingenious use of timelines and flashbacks but also the combination of the metadramatical and realism will impress the reader with every reread of his works.

Luwes praises the genius with which Fourie approached his texts: “The tension between fixed theatre tradition and innovative theatre codes in which he experimented, especially regarding his approaches to theme and form, would often lead to a controversial critique of his work. Fourie’s writing skills indeed grew from realistic well-made plays to the distinct playwright he became – a master in the manipulation of theatre semiotics while introducing healthy innovation in terms of theme and form in the Afrikaans theatre and drama.”

Luwes wrote his doctoral thesis on Pieter Fourie under the guidance of Professor H.P van Coller, former head of the Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French. A good friend of Fourie, Luwes describes his death as a personal loss:

“Na soveel jare se persoonlike vriendskap en mentorskap gaan sy plek leeg bly. Pieter was my skerpste kritikus, maar ook die man wat eendag lank gelede as vreemdeling ná die debuut van Aku vang ʼn ster die kleedkamer ingekom en net gesê het: ‘Hou maar aan skryf’. Juis vanweë hierdie diep menslikheid  betreur ek Pieter Fourie se dood.

In sy bedankingstoespraak op 11 Mei 2011 by die toekenning van die eredoktorsgraad aan die Universiteit van die Vrystaat het Fourie sy bekende woorde oor die kunstenaar herhaal: ‘Die kunstenaar is soos ‘n vlermuis. Dis ‘n lelike ding wat in die nag werk en alles onderstebo sien as hy hang. Hy sien die wêreld om hom uit ‘n totaal ander hoek’. Op 21-jarige ouderdom het hierdie sensitiewe Vrystaatseun reeds gesien wat die toekoms sou inhou met sy gedig 31 Mei 1961:

31 Mei 1961

republiekwording
vrystaat-stadion
vryheidsduif
verseg om te vlieg
uit verwoerd se hand

fladder af
sit voor die wêreld
aan sy voete

ooswind roer
die wit maluti
sny knypkoud
die stadion in

die duif bly sit.

Retrospektief beskou, het Fourie inderdaad sy kunstenaarskap op soveel terreine met uitsonderlike artistieke insig, deursettingsvermoë en durf gestand gedoen. Sy stem in die Afrikaanse teater sal nooit uitgedoof kan word nie. My dierbare vriend wat ‘nooit ʼn kwikstertjie sou skiet nie’”.

Pieter Fourie can be described as a controversial, innovative, but chiefly prominent writer and playwright who in the majority of his pieces demonstrated his exceptional ability to pair literary quality with performability. His death leaves a major void in the South African theatre world.

During the nineties, the UFS acquired a selection containing some of Fourie’s books and important personal artefacts under the departmental principalship of Prof H.P. van Coller. This selection is still housed at the university’s Department of Afrikaans and Dutch, German and French.

Prof Anthea van Jaarsveld
Academic Head of the Department of Drama en Theatre Arts