Uys, Pieter-Dirk (1945-…), is a South African author, performer, and political satirist who pokes fun at life in his native country. Uys’s main targets have been South Africa’s politics and government. Uys is best known for his impersonation of Evita Bezuidenhout, a fictional South African ambassador to the “independent African state of Bapetikosweti.” Uys plays this comedy character, dubbed the “most famous white woman in South Africa,” in both his stage shows and in his motion picture Skating on Thin Uys (1985). He has also written three fictional biographies of the character, No One’s Died Laughing (1986), A Part Hate, a Part Love (1990), and Evita’s Fungilore (1995).
Uys has written more than 35 plays and revues, including Black Beauty and the BOSS (1977), Adapt or Dye (1981), Farce About Uys (1983), Total Onslaught (1984), You ANC Nothing Yet (1995), Live from Boerassic Park (1997), and Foreign Aids (2001). His more dramatic stage works include God’s Forgotten (1975), Karnaval (1975), and Paradise Is Closing Down (1976). His outright attack on the South African government of State President P. W. Botha in Rearranging the Deckchairs on the SA Bothatanic (1986) marked a hardening of his satirical style. His satirical novel Trekking to Teema (2001) appeared first over the Internet and then in book form.
Pieter-Dirk Uys was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He studied drama at the University of Cape Town and film at the London Film School in the United Kingdom.
