Reza de Wet (11 May 1952 – 27 January 2012) was a South African playwright. Reza de Wet, born in a small town named

Senekal Senekal is a town situated on the banks of the Sand River in the eastern part of the Free State province of South Africa. It was named after Commandant FP Senekal. It is the second largest town in Setsoto Municipality after Ficksburg, the lar ...

in Free State,

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 ...

is considered one of the country’s greatest female playwrights. After graduating from

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

drama school, she worked extensively as an actress, obtained a master's degree in English Literature and lectured in the drama department of

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

. She was a prolific, and socially conscious writer who had written 12 plays in 15 years (five in English and seven in Afrikaans). She won nine awards for her scripts (five Vita Awards, three Fleur du Cap Awards and a Dalro Award) as well as literary awards (a CNA Prize, a Rapport Prize and twice the Herzog Prize) and productions of her plays have won more than 40 theatre awards. Yelena won the Vita Award for Best Script (1998–1999) while "Drie Susters Twee" ( Three Sisters part two), was named Best Production for the same year. She won more theatre and literary awards than any other South African playwright, including the Herzog Prize for drama (1994), the highest honour in Afrikaans literature. In Open Space, an anthology of new African plays, she is the only woman represented and one of the two South African dramatists. A feature film based on ''Diepe Grond (African Gothic)'' was adapted for the screen and produced by Damon Shalit. Damon played the role of Frikkie and Chella Ferrow the role of Sussie. The film was directed by Gabriel Bologna in 2012. In 2013, the film was screened in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, where Reza De Wet lived, to commemorate the anniversary of her death. She died from

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

at her home on 27 January 2012.

References

External links

*http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/commentary/2012/02/05/obituary-reza-de-wet-playwright-who-sought-hidden-truths *http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10137548.2012.754082#.UrHWVtJdXIc {{DEFAULTSORT:De Wet, Reza South African dramatists and playwrights 1952 births 2012 deaths Sestigers Afrikaner people Afrikaans-language writers Translators from English Hertzog Prize winners for drama Hertzog Prize winners for prose 20th-century South African novelists 21st-century South African novelists 20th-century translators