On Monday budding playwright Curtley Pitt, a participant in the 2022 Jakes Gerwel Foundation / NATi Jong Sterre programme is returning to “home soil” to “develop a masterpiece”.
Cradock-born and bred, Curtley matriculated from Marlow Agricultural High School in 2015 and set off to Gqeberha in 2016, to pursue his dream of becoming a rugby player. When that didn’t work out, he moved to Stellenbosch in 2017 with sights still set on a career in rugby, until one day it dawned on him that: “I was trying to keep a dead dream alive.”
“I started writing about how I feel and wanted to share my feelings without directly telling it to someone. Get the message across with no words, just mainly emotions.” His best friend suggested he change direction and head for the stage.
Three years of studying drama from 2018 at City Varsity and graduating with four distinctions in 2020 followed.
“I worked as a runner at the Suidoosterfees this year and promised myself I’ll perform there next year. I could feel that I belong on the stage.” And it was this feeling that led him to apply to the JGF/NATi Jong Sterre programme where plays worked on in mentorship with Lee-Ann Van Rooi, premieres at 2023 Suidoosterfees.
“The fact that it’s in Somerset East, not far from my hometown Cradock, drew my attention the most. Perfect opportunity to develop a masterpiece on home soil,” says Curtley who is looking forward to gaining knowledge from his fellow writers and “sharpening my tools as a playwright.”
Mooiplaas is the play he will be working at the foundation’s Paulet House.
The play takes place in the 1980s and tackles the history of “farm slavery” interwoven with the acknowledgment and honouring of freedom fighters of the 1980s – “white, brown and black freedom fighters,” Curtley says.
“I want to tell the story of the attacker, as well as the victim. The climax of the play is a farm murder. But this is a different farm murder, one with deep reasoning and history behind it – a bittersweet moment. We see how the history of the characters has an impact on each other’s lives. How farmer workers were abused by their owners, but in this case, the owner has a story behind his oppressive behaviour.”
Curtley continues: “My high school was predominantly white. I experienced a lot of verbal abuse, especially racist comments. In the 1980’s racism was hectic, but it was also a time period where people fought for freedom. I want to show the pain that the people of colour went through, the pain I felt back in high school as a coloured boy. The only thought that kept me going back in high school is the thought that people in apartheid experienced racism worse than me. And I want to show that. “
Curtley Pitt het opleiding as akteur by CityVarsity in Kaapstad ontvang. Hy het in verskeie teaterproduksies gespeel, en TV-rolle vertolk in reekse soos Arendsvlei en Discovery se misdaadreeks, Investigation. Hy werk as stemkunstenaar vir oorklankingsproduksies en tree gereeld as seremoniemeester by korporatiewe geleenthede op. Curtley is ook opgelei in fisieke teater en choreografie, en hy is ’n ontluikende dramaturg wat in Afrikaans skryf.
