Proesstraat (Proes Street) is an

Afrikaans Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans gra ...

Television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

-Show which airs on kykNet based on the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

improvisational comedy show Schillerstrasse. It is recorded without a script, in front of a live audience and broadcast unedited to a large extent.

Idea and show structure

The setting of the show is the living room of the main actor Waldemar Schultz who lives on the real street "Proesstraat" in

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The main character is regularly visited by friends and relatives. The participants only know the topic of the episode in advance. The whole plot has to be improvised comically. The cast receive directions from the ''Regisseur'' (Director/Presenter) on their ear-pieces, and have to follow the cues, e.g. "Eloise: Tell the others you're pregnant!". The show mostly airs unedited and things that go wrong are not removed, either. The original

show was created by Maike Tatzig who is also the show's executive producer. Debuting on Germany's Sat.1, ”Schiller Street” (created and produced by Hurricane) has been one of the most innovative and successful comedy formats in the recent years. The concept has already won various national and international TV prizes such as the Rose d’Or Press Prize 2005. SevenOne International, the ProSiebenSat.1 Group's worldwide programming sales company has sold the format to numerous countries, including France, Italy, Russia, Finland, Norway and Turkey. The Italian adaptation “Buona la Prima” won the national “Telegrolle 2008” and “Gran Premio della Fiction Italiana '08” for best sitcom.

Main cast

*The main cast include Waldemar Schultz, Pierre Breytenbach,

Melt Sieberhagen Melt Sieberhagen is a South African actor and comic and was born in Ventersdorp. Training He obtained a B.A. in Drama from the University of Pretoria in 2001. Television appearances He starred in numerous South African soaps as well as the Afrik ...

, Wikus du Toit, Eloise Cupido, Esther von Waltsleben and Martelize Kolver. *Eloise Cupido did not return on the 2nd season. * Waldemar Schultz, Esther von Waltsleben and Martelize Kolver did not return for the 3rd season. New cast members for the third season included Pierre van Heerden, Ilne Fourie, Desire Gardner, Mortimer Williams and

Cindy Swanepoel Cindy Swanepoel (born 15 December 1981) is a South African actress. She is best known for her roles in the popular serials '' Generations'', ''Binnelanders'' and '' Egoli: Place of Gold''. Personal life She was born on 15 December 1981 in Kruge ...

Celebrity Guests

They interchange with dozens of other guests and

celebrities including June van Mersh, Emo Adams, Tammy-Ann Fortuin, Sean Else, Wicus van der Merwe, Joey Rasdien, Elize Cawood, Tobie Cronje, Karen Wessels, Dowwe Dolla, Marion Holm, Neels van Jaarsveld,

Casper de Vries Casper Johannes De Vries (; born 1 June 1964) is a South African actor, comedian, entertainer, painter, composer, director and producer. He has gained a significant following among South Africa's liberal Afrikaner and Afrikaans speaking popula ...

, Shaleen Surtie-Richards and Pedro Kruger. *Guests for season 2 included Hannes Muller, Hannah Grobler, Hannon Bothma, Steve Hofmeyr,

Louw Venter Louw Venter (born 16 August 1975), is a South African actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his directorial and writing roles in the popular films ''The Tree'', ''Konfetti'' and ''Swartwater''. Personal life He was born on 16 August 1975 in ...

, Jannie Moolman, Gigi Strydom and

Snotkop Francois Henning (born December 22, 1974), better known by his stage name Snotkop (, and previously known as Lekgoa , is a South African people, South African singer and rapper of Afrikaans. He started his music career at age 15 preparing demo ...

. *Guests for season 3 included Ben Kruger, Hannon Bothma,

Sylvaine Strike Sylvaine Strike is a South African actress, writer and theatre direction, theatre director based in Cape Town, South Africa. Early life Strike was born in Pretoria. She studied at the University of Cape Town and graduated with a degree in drama ...

and Toks van der Linde. *Guests for season 4 included Neels van Jaarsveld,

Heinz Winckler Heinz Carl Heinrich Winckler (born 22 March 1978) is a South African singer and the winner of the first series of South African '' Idols'' and is also an actor. Born the eldest of three children in Stellenbosch, South Africa, he went on to study ...

, Riaan Cruywagen, Anrich Herbst and Gys de Villiers.

Production

*Production on Season 1 started on 7 January 2010 and all 26 episodes were completed by 23 January 2010, shot in front of a live audience at

University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is a public university located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of Johannesburg came into existence on 1 January 2005 as the result of a merger between the Rand Afrikaans University (RAU), the Te ...

's theatre. *Production on Season 2 started on 2 December 2010 and by 22 December 2010 30 new episodes were shot in front of a live audience at

's theater. kykNet announced that all tickets to attend the filming of Season 2 were available from Computicket. *Production on Season 3 started on 6 January 2013 and all 26 episodes were completed by 2 February 2013, shot in front of a live audience at

's theatre. *Production on Season 4 started on 30 Oktober 2014 and all 26 episodes were completed by 15 November 2014, shot in front of a live audience at

's theatre.

Awards

*Proesstraat was nominated for 2 Golden Horn (

South African Film and Television Awards South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

) or SAFTAS for Season 1 in the categories Best Ensemble Cast in a Comedy as well as a nomination for Wikus du Toit as Best Actor in a Comedy. The production won the SAFTA for Best Comedy - Ensemble Cast in 2011 for Season 1. *Season 2 received 3 SAFTA nomination and won 2 awards; Best Comedy Writing Team and Best Director for Harald Richter.

Season 1 (a) Episodes

Season 1 (b) Episodes

Season 2 (a) episodes

Season 3 episodes

Season 4 episodes

Transmission

On 29 April 2010 kykNet announced that all 26 episodes of Proesstraat will not be aired continuously. The channel decided to air the first 15 episodes, take a break of 3 months and re-commence with the final 11 episodes on 7 August 2010. The first season of Proesstraat was extremely favorably received by critics and one newspaper reviewer called it “...deliciously funny.” The final episode of Season 2 was aired on 26 September 2011.

References

{{reflist

External links

Proestraat Fanpage

Facebook Page for Proesstraat

KykNet Homepage

Trailer for Ep. 1

Trailer for Ep.2

Fanpage for Wikus du Toit
South African comedy television series Afrikaans-language television shows Television shows set in South Africa