Reza de Wet (1952-2012): Life and Works Daniël Botha Stander Dissertation presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Stellenbosch University The financial assistance of the Andrew Mellon Foundation towards Daniël Botha Stander’s research is hereby acknowledged. Supervisors: Prof Shaun Viljoen and Dr Riaan Oppelt December 2019 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Declaration By submitting this dissertation, I declare that the entirety of the work contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the sole author thereof (save to the extent explicitly otherwise stated), that reproduction and publication thereof by Stellenbosch University will not infringe any third party rights and that I have not previously in its entirety or in part submitted it for obtaining any qualification. December 2019 Signed: Daniël Botha Stander Copyright © 2019 Stellenbosch University All rights reserved 2 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Table of Contents Declaration 3 Abstract 6 Opsomming 7 Acknowledgments 8 List of figures 9 Chapter 1 “My plays are my diaries”: Situating a Biocritical Research Project on Reza de Wet in a Broader Literary Life Writing Discourse 13 Chapter 2 “My biographer will have fun”: Devising a Methodology for Reading De Wet’s Work in Relation to Her Life 47 Chapter 3 “I am deeply indebted to Jung”: De Wet's Idiosyncratic 'Jungian' Poetics 82 Chapter 4 “I am a period piece”: De Wet's Chronotopes and Her Symbolisation of Theatre as Child's Play 111 Chapter 5 “The place where children play”: The Child as Hermaphrodite in De Wet's Plays 147 3 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Chapter 6 “More than either of them”: De Wet's Acting Training and its Link with Metadrama in Her Plays 186 Conclusion “I refuse to be a figurehead”: De Wet’s Canon Position in South African and International Literary Historical Discourse 192 Addendum 203 Works Cited 207 4 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Abstract Reza Wet, one of South Africa’s most awarded playwrights, reputed, both locally and internationally, for her prodigious body of work, passed away in 2012 and yet her life as a writer, actress, director and scholar is sparsely documented and under researched. Apart from Erika Terblanche’s writer’s profile on the website Litnet, no serious attempt has been made to properly document De Wet’s upbringing, education and career as an actress, academic scholar, lecturer, and theatre professional and no study has been made at all of the thriving afterlife of her works abroad. This exemplifies J.C. Kannemeyer’s observation that biographies of South African authors are remarkably rare (83). This thesis aims to map De Wet’s intellectual and artistic development within the context of South African theatre and literary studies and history and to analyse her work’s unique position within these fields. It places a special emphasis on De Wet’s idiosyncratic Jungian psychoanalytic poetics and reads her oeuvre as an expression of a psyche in search of greater self-knowledge. To this end it relies on a combination of close reading and archival research to conduct an encompassing life-works analysis by which De Wet’s life history is the favoured source underpinning an interpretation of the works, while the work remains the central focus of the thesis at large. This project will hopefully contribute to the expansion of South African theatre and literary auto/biographical archives. 5 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Opsomming Reza de Wet, een van Suid-Afrika se mees bekroonde dramaturge, is in 2012 oorlede. Sy is plaaslik en internasionaal bekend vir die omvang van haar skrywersloopbaan, maar tog is haar lewe as skrywer, aktrise en navorser nog yl gedokumenteer. Buiten Erika Terblanche se skrywersprofiel op die webtuiste Litnet is daar nog geen noemenswaardige poging aangewend om De Wet se opbrengs, opvoeding en loopbaan as aktrise, akademikus, dosent en professionele teatermaker te boekstaaf nie en geen studie is al van haar werk se bloeiende nalewe in ander lande gemaak nie. Hierdie gegewe staaf J.C. Kannemeyer se opmerking dat Suid-Afrikaanse skrywersbiografieë besonders skaars is (83). Hierdie tesis poog om De Wet se intellektuele en artistieke ontwikkeling binne die konteks van Suid-Afrikaanse teater- en literêre studies en -geskiedenis te karteer as ook haar werk se unieke posisie binne die konteks van hierdie velde. Ek beklemtoon De Wet se eiesoortige Jungiaanse psigo-analitiese skrywersbenadering en ek interpreteer haar oeuvre as ’n uitdrukking van ’n psige opsoek na ’n verdiepte selfkennis. Met hierdie doel voor oë berus my navorsing op ’n kombinasie van stipleesgebaseerde en argiefnavorsing om ’n omvattende lewe-en-werke-analise te behartig waardeur De Wet se lewensgeskiedenis as die belangrikste voedbron dien, terwyl die werk self die sentrale fokus van die tesis in geheel bly. Hierdie projek sal hopelik ’n bydra lewer tot die uitbou van Suid-Afrikaanse teater- en literêre auto/biografiese argiewe. 6 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Acknowledgements I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the following people and institutions: Prof Shaun Viljoen who convinced me to do a PhD and enabled me to do so with the financial support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that funded my studies; Dr Riaan Oppelt for his endless patience and support as he juggled supervision over both my thesis and my work as a tutor of a course he coordinated; Dr Jeanne Ellis who first encouraged me to continue my postgraduate studies, to do my research on Reza de Wet, and who taught me most of what I know about writing and reading; the archivists at NALN, NELM and Oranje Meisieskool, and everyone who was willing to share unpublished information on Reza de Wet; this includes the provision of unpublished drafts, scripts and photographs and for availing themselves for interviews; everyone who generously hosted me on various research trips, especially Rachel Breytenbach, Banzie, Joans and Stephan Bezuidenhout, Izeth Schutte and Sandra Temmingh; all my friends, with a special reference to Stephan Bezuidenhout, Carla Bester, Jan-Hendrik Swanepoel, and Lizelle Smit in particular who, in one pterodactylian swoop, descended on me and became a vital confident, cheerleader, and research companion; Louise Louw, who first introduced me to Reza de Wet’s work in 2001; to Marthinus Basson, undoubtedly my fiercest supporter and helper and most valuable councillor in this project; and to my dear parents, who loved me into being and believe me into success. 7 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Figure 1: “Reza de Wet (1952-2012)”, Creator: Rob Cooper, Donated by Nina van Schoor. Figure 2: “Photograph of Reza de Wet’s autograph”, Creator: Author photograph, 2017. Figure 3: “De Wet’s grandmother’s house in Senekal”, Creator: Unknown, Donated by June van Eyssen. Figure 4: “Hendrik Francois de Wet at his house in Bloemfontein”, Creator: Unknown, 1994, NALN-fotoversameling. Figures 5 and 6: “Hendrik Francois de Wet in the 1960s and 1990s”, Creators: Unknown, Donated by June van Eyssen; 1994, NALN fotoversameling. Figures 7 and 8: “Hendrik Francois de Wet with his daughter”, Creators: Unknown, Donated by June van Eyssen. Figure 9: “De Wet as a child”, Creator: Unknown, Donated by June van Eyssen. Figure 10: “De Wet’s bedside table in Grahamstown”, Creator: Author photograph, 2015. Figure 11: “De Wet’s antique toy collection”, Creator: Author photograph, 2015. Figures 12 and 13: “Interiors of De Wet’s parents’ house in Bloemfontein”, Unknown, 1994, NALN-fotoversameling. Figure 14: “Oranje National Christian Girls’ School’s annual march to the Women’s Monument in 1969”, Creator: Unknown, Oranje Meisieskool Jaarblad 1969, Oranje Meisieskool School Archive. Figure 15: “De Wet costumed in fin de siècle wear in 1967”, Creator: Unknown, Oranje Meisieskool Jaarblad 1969, Oranje Meisieskool School Archive. Figures 16 and 17: “The bust of Eugène Marais and the hut in which it was placed”: Creators: Unknown, 1994, NALN-fotoversameling; June van Eyssen. Figure 18: “De Wet’s dolls”: Creator: Unknown, 1994, NALN-fotoversameling. Figure 19: “The cast of Diepe Grond’s professional premiere on the Free State farm Jubilee”: Creator: Ruphin Goudyzer, Diepe Grond Programme Note, 1985, Donated by Ryno Eksteen. Figure 20: “De Wet as a child, play-acting with her friend, Geta Finlayson née Geldenhuys”: Unknown, Donated by June van Eyssen. 8 Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za Figure 21: “De Wet’s writing room in Grahamstown”: Creator: Author photograph, 2015. Figures 22 and 23: “De Wet in her mother’s furs”: Creator: Rob Cooper, Donated by Rachel Breytenbach and Nina van Schoor. Figure 24: “De Wet and a female friend play-acting a grown-up heterosexual couple as children”: Creator: Unknown, Donated by Carla Haviland and June van Eyssen. Figure 25: “De Wet’s maternal grandmother’s house in Senekal”: Creator: Unknown, Donated by Carla Haviland and June van Eyssen. Figures 26 and 27: “Gérard (Charles Gerhardus) Marais and his second wife, Frederica née van Eyssen”: Creators: Unknown, Donated by Carla Haviland and June van Eyssen. Figures 28, 29 and 30: “Tawtie (Elizabeth Mary) de Wet née Marais”: Creators: Unknown, Donated by Carla Haviland and June van Eyssen. Figures 31, 32 and 33: “De Wet’s divertive gaze in school photographs”: Creator: Unknown, Oranje Meisieskool Jaarblad 1969, Oranje Meisieskool School Archive. Figure 34: “Reza de Wet and Lindsay Reardon”: Creator: Rob Cooper, Donated by Nina van Schoor. Figure 35: “De Wet and her daughter Nina van Schoor née Reardon, age 6”: Creator: Rob Cooper, Donated by Nina van Schoor. Figures 36 and 37: “Photographs of De Wet and Van Schoor taken in 1986”: Creator: Rob Cooper. Figure 38: “Evan van Eyssen and Reza de Wet as children”: Creator: Unknown, Donated by June van Eyssen Figure 39: “De Wet in a school play”: Creator: Unknown, Donated: Nina van Schoor.