Reza de Wet (11 May 1952 – 27 January 2012) was a South African playwright known for her significant contributions to South African theatre. De Wet was born in

Senekal Senekal is a town situated on the banks of the Sand River (Free State), Sand River in the eastern part of the Free State (South African province), Free State province of South Africa. It was named after Commandant FP Senekal, who led the encro ...

in the Free State of South Africa. She graduated from the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

drama school and worked as an actress. She later obtained a master's degree in English literature and lectured in the drama department of

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

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

. Over a span of fifteen years, De Wet wrote twelve plays, five in English and seven in Afrikaans. She won numerous awards for her work, including five Vita Awards, three Fleur du Cap Awards, and one Dalro Award. Her literary accolades include one CNA Prize, one Rapport Prize, and two

Hertzog Prize The Hertzog Prize (or Hertzogprys) is an annual award given to Afrikaans writers by the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for the Sciences and Art), formerly the South African Academy for Language, Literature ...

s. Productions of her plays have garnered more than forty theatre awards. Her play ''Yelena'' won the Vita Award for Best Script in 1998–1999, and ''Drie Susters Twee'', an Afrikaans adaptation of the Three Sisters, was named Best Production for the same year. De Wet's play ''Diepe Grond'' is a notable work that premiered at the Market Theater in Johannesburg, a venue known for its opposition to

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. The play serves as a critique of the moral decay resulting from the country's racist policies. In 2024, a feature film adaptation titled ''WHITE DEVILS'' was directed by Gabriel Bologna. De Wet passed away from

leukaemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce 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 South African women 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 South African women novelists