Between fool and preacher

Cabaret performers Pieter-Dirk Uys (South Africa) and Freek de Jonge discuss their ways to find a balance between humor and morality. Henk van Gelder chairs the discussion. English spoken.

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Information

Date and time Saturday 21 January 2006 21:35 tot 22:01 uur
Location Theater aan het Spui - grote zaal

What do you do as independent cabaret artist and the message in your act has lost its urgency, and your ideas have become public property? What is the relationship between humour and morality, or in other words: when does a fool become a preacher? Pieter-Dirk Uys and Freek de Jonge explain how they define their role as fool and discuss this with one another. Henk van Gelder chairs the discussion. English spoken.

Pieter-Dirk Uys

(Cape Town, 1945) is the most famous cabaret artist in South-Africa. He is a gifted story teller who in his succesful cabaret acts reveals a keen, critical vision on South African politics and society. Originally his critic was incorporated in his plays. However, in 1975 when the government banned all his plays, he fought on by means of his one-man shows. In his new performance ‘The end is naai’ he takes stock of ten years of democracy en equality in South Africa. A programme in which the razor sharp humour of Uys introduces you to the South Africa of today. This satirist attacks head on and speaks his truth about Mandela, Tutu and Mbeki. Even Dutch society cannot escape Uys' keen eye. Uys has involved himself with elections and supports a democratic South Africa and he focusses on the South African youth to try to arm them against HIV and the aids-epedemic.
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Freek de Jonge

(Westernieland, 1944) became widely known in the seventies with the cabaret duo Neerlands Hoop (Dutch hope), that he formed together with Bram Vermeulen. After the breaking up of Neerlands Hoop in 1979, Freek de Jonge continued with a solo career. His first solo project, in 1980, was the theatre show De Komiek (The comedian). Over the years Freek de Jonge has grown to become one of the most famous cabaret artists in the Netherlands. Alongside his theatre shows De Jonge writes books and two films have been made under his name. In 1993 he played the jester in the play King Lear by Het Nationale Toneel (National Theatre). In 1997 he had a national hit with his song Leven na de Dood (Life after death). Freek de Jonge's most recent show is De Vergrijzing (The ageing), 2004. His most recent novel Door de knieën (Submitting) was published in the same year.
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Henk van Gelder

(1946) is a freelance journalist for newspapers such as NRC Handelsblad. He is particularly well known as a writer of variety artists biographies. He wrote amongst others De vriendelijkste kerel van de wereld: Jaap van de Merwe (The friendliest chap in the world: Jaap van de Merwe) (1994), in which, as a journalist, historian and critic, he explores the work of Van de Merwe. In Carmiggelt, het levensverhaal (Carmiggelt, the biography) (1999), Van Gelder succeeded, with the help of testimonies from friends and contemporaries, and by analysing thousands of unknown columns, to create a much more multi-faceted and fascinating image of Simon Carmiggelt than was known up to now. The biography De spookschrijver - het raadsel van Jacques van Tol (The ghost writer, the mystery of Jacques van Tol)(2001), is about the most succesful, and at the same time the most mysterious script writer of the Netherlands during the nineteen thirties. In March 2005 appeared De Schnabbeltour (The moonlight tour), about the lost episodes of the Dutch amusement industry during the post-war reconstruction years.
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