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There can be smiles after HIV/AIDS, says Pieter-Dirk Uys
Shellee Geduld. 08 October 2003. Cape Argus. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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Satirist Pieter-Dirk Uys plans to produce a video, Survival AIDS, which highlights the "fears and denials associated with the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa".
For years Uys and his alter ego Evita Bezuidenhout have been at the forefront of the fight against this killer. Uys's current production, Foreign AIDS, has been performed at schools and businesses around the country and it has even been taken to America and Europe. He is touring London before heading off to New York with the show.
Now Uys has announced that, he and Tannie Evita will produce a new video that will deal with the HIV/AIDS issue.
The Cape Argus caught up with Uys before he left for London to talk to him about the new video.
He says the video is based on the structure of a TV show, complete with a quiz and commercial breaks. The "show" will highlight the "fears and denials associated with the HIV/AIDS pandemic in South Africa", Uys says.
"The show I'm doing in theatres now is Foreign AIDS, so Survival AIDS is actually taking it one step further. I hope the title will also give an indication of survival, because we are talking about life here.
"We decided on this quiz show, and of course The Weakest Link is a wonderful example of a successful type of structure.
"We are not copying it in our version. It's just that we are also doing the question-and-answer format where there is a rude woman - Evita's sister Bambi Kellerman - who asks nervous people questions and of course kaks on them when they make mistakes and they become the biggest poeps."
He added that asking questions about HIV/AIDS was a wonderful way to expose people's denials and fears. It was all done in the entertainment framework because "I always underline that word entertainment very strongly. "I really believe education through entertainment is the key."
"There are a lot of areas that people don't want to confront, and so through entertainment - not just jokes because there is nothing funny about HIV/AIDS - we've managed to find ways to laugh at our fears and laugh at the people who created our fears."
Some of the basic questions asked on the quiz show deal with what HIV and AIDS is, how to treat people close to you who are infected with HIV and what a person with HIV should do when they are not feeling well.
It also deals with how people react when they go for an HIV test and discover they are HIV-positive. "What happens when you find out, is it the end of your life? No! The point is you don't have to die, you can live. It's a life sentence not a death sentence."
Uys said it was important that people realised they could take control of the situation.
Uys will approach various businesses because he wants to distribute at least 30 000 copies of the video, for free, to schools, hostels, reformatories and other places where people gather. |
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