MBOMBELA – Multi-award-winning actress, Anna-Mart van der Merwe, has been described as the Meryl Streep of South Africa by talk-show host Anne Hirsch. It would be hard to argue with her. Van der Merwe enjoys immense popularity in this country for her numerous leading roles in local television programmes and films and has appeared on the cover of many a national magazine.
What many South Africans may not know is that she is also an accomplished theatre actress and her latest venture on the stage brings her back to the Innibos National Arts Festival with the cast of Athol Fugard’s People Are Living There. The production, which has been nominated for four Naledi Theatre Awards, is the first English theatre piece in the festival’s history and comes to Mbombela after a very successful six-week run at The Market Theatre last year.
Also read: English theatre comes to Innibos with acclaimed Fugard work
Van der Merwe, who has been nominated for a Naledi award for her portrayal of Milly, believes that even though People Are Living There was written in English, the play goes beyond language.
“Fugard is such an important voice in the country’s cultural landscape and I feel the characters he created are completely South African. His language is the human condition and it transcends any boundaries that a specific language can bring,” she said.
She hopes that Innibos theatregoers will recognise themselves, or people they know, in the characters of the play.
“Fugard wrote this play from ‘real life’ as it were. All the characters and many of the dramatic incidents are almost literal transcriptions of his and his wife’s experiences in a boarding house in Braamfontein towards the end of the 1950s,” she says.
“I think people will be moved by Fugard’s brilliant way to, without any judgment, show the human being’s dark and light side, our fragility, innocence and rage.”
Born in Vredendal in the Western Cape, Van der Merwe says her parents exposed her to music, books, theatre and movies from a young age. Her West Coast childhood left her with memories of playing in the streets with friends, as well as the freedom and quietude of daydreaming.
“Those memories of a rural and earthy upbringing, the realness of it, have pulled me through many a scary or troublesome moment,” Van der Merwe says.
“I spent many hours sitting on my backside analysing the script and learning those lines. When Milly gets going, she doesn’t stop talking!”.
She has loved working with director André Odendaal, whom she first met in 1987 when they were both working at Windybrow Theatre in Johannesburg.
“He knows me extremely well as an actor and it was glorious and scary to be pushed by him. He was fearless and I am so grateful for that,” Van der Merwe says.
She is also very excited by the talent of the younger generation of artists coming through the ranks in South Africa, some of whom she works with in People Are Living There.
“My fellow members of the cast are phenomenal. I think South Africa should be truly proud of her young artists. I love working with different generations because it challenges and stimulates one.”
People Are Living There opens at Innibos National Arts Festival on June 28. Shorty and wife Sissy are played by Francois Jacobs and Dania Gelderblom respectively. Carel Nel plays Don.
Theatre: Drama
Date and time: Tuesday June 28 at 18:00, Wednesday June 29 at 10:00 and 19:00, Thursday June 30 at 14:00, Friday July 1 at 10:00 and 14:00 and Saturday July 2 at 14:00
Venue: St Peter’s School
Duration: 120 minutes
Price: R132
Author: Athol Fugard
Director: André Odendaal
Sponsored by: York Timbers, Dr Corné Ackermann, SA Embroidery, Mindful Marketing and Freyja Wellness Spa.
