Charles J. Fourie

Charles J. Fourie (born 1965, Potchefstroom)^[1] is a South African writer and director working in television, film and theatre.^[2] Fourie staged his first play as a drama student at the Windybrow Theatre in 1985. In 2021/22, he received a writing and research fellowship from the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study (JIAS) to develop a new theatre format involving artificial intelligence. His latest radio-drama series Alleenmandaat is currently broadcasting on SABC (Radio Sonder Grense). As of April 2022, he will engage a residency fellowship with the Posthuman Art Network and Foreign Objekt to further develop his latest creative project - AI Performance Narratives. Fourie's play The Parrot Woman was staged in September 2022 at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg.^[3]

Theatre

Over the past thirty years, Fourie has written and staged more than 60 different plays and cabarets presented in South Africa, the United Kingdom and USA. As writer and director, he has also worked with well-known South African and British actors such as Linda Marlowe, Samantha Bond, Tobie Cronje, Chris Gxalaba, Vicky Kente, Jamie Bartlett, Trix Pienaar, Jarrid Geduld, and Deirdre Wolhuter, among others.

Fourie's stories feature strong sociopolitical themes in award-winning historical and biographical plays such as Die Crazer, Big Boys, Don Gxubane onner die Boere, Vrygrond, Stander, Crime Babies, Vrededorp, Kurtz, The Parrot Woman, Goddess of Song, Demjanjuk, Braaivleis, The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife, and Agterplaas. More recent plays such as Vergifnis, Happy Sindane and Ella's Horses were staged to rave reviews at various arts festivals and received a Standard Bank Ovation award.

Other awards for his work include the SACPAC best play award, Fleur Du Cap best new play award, Maskew Miller Longman award for drama, KKNK Nagtegaal best new play award, Sanlam radio drama award, and on two occasions the Amstel Playwright of the Year Award. Several of his play have also been published.

Fourie has also written numerous radio drama series for the SABC (Radio Sonder Grense) since 2003, and his most recent 60-episode radio drama series Alleenmandaat was broadcast in 2022 to rave reviews.

He received the South African Academy of Science and Arts Medal of Honour for radio drama in 2015 and won several awards for his radio dramas. As a film director, he adapted four of his stage plays into films, which premiered on KykNET and SABC.

Fourie was awarded a writing fellowship at the Johannesburg Institute for Advanced Study in 2021 to develop a new project involving the use of artificial intelligence in a theatre production, and in 2022 he received a virtual residency with the Posthuman Art Network and Foreign Objekt based in Germany and Sweden.

Fourie returned to the Market Theatre as writer and director in 2022 after his last plays Vrygrond and Crime Babies were staged there. His play The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife is currently listed nation-wide as a set work for Grade 10 (English) learners.

Other writing

Alleenmandaat (drama series x 60 episodes) – SABC/RSG (2022)
Goue Koors (drama series x 60 episodes) – SABC/RSG (2021)
Brulsand (drama series x 60 episodes) – SABC/RSG (2020)
Rust en Vrede (drama series x 60 episodes) – SABC/RSG (2019)
Agterplaas (drama series x 60 episodes) – SABC/RSG (2018)
Tamboeryn (radio drama series x 60 episodes) – SABC/RSG (2017)
Binnelanders (drama series x 65 episodes) – KykNET (2016)
Sacrifice (60-minute radio drama feature) – BBC/UK (2016)
Pottie Potgieter (drama series x 26 episodes) - SABC 2 (2015)
Agterplaas – Silwerskerm Film Festival Feature - KykNET (2015)
Boggomsbaai (drama series x 120 episodes) – Maroela Media (2015)
Deeltitel-Dames (drama series x 13 episodes) – KykNET (2014)
Home Affairs (drama series x 52 episodes) - SABC 3 (2014)
Montana (drama series x 26 episodes) - SABC 1 (2014)
Boekeparadys (drama series x 40 episodes) – Maroela Media (2014)
Vergifnis (60-minute radio drama feature) SABC/RSG (2014)
SOS Family of Man (drama series x 52 episodes) - SABC 3 (2013)
Suburban Bliss (drama series x 26 episodes) - SABC 3 (2012)
Purgatorio (drama series x 60 episodes) – SABC/RSG (2012)
Paradiso (drama series x 60 episodes) – SABC/RSG (2011)
Vrededorp (56-minute feature film) – KykNET (2011)
Stander (56-minute feature film) – KykNET (2011)
Eiland (56-minute feature film) – KykNET (2011)
Inferno (drama series x 60 episodes) – SABC/RSG (2010)
Seisoene (drama series x 60 episodes) –SABC/RSG (2009)
Beseringstyd (60-minute radio drama feature) – SABC/RSG (2008)
Praatmaar (60-minute radio drama feature) – SABC/RSG (2007)

Awards

1988: Amstel Playwright of the Year Award
1989: AA Life Vita playwright of the year
1989: AA Life Vita best theatre production
1990: Pot-Pourri festival best production award
1990: Standard Bank ‘pick of the fringe’ award
1993: Amstel Playwright of the Year Award
1994: SACPAC best play of the year award
1995: Fleur du Cap award best play nomination
1996: Foundation for the Creative Arts award
1998: ABSA KKNK Kanna theatre award
2000: Sanlam/RSG/SABC radio drama award
2006: KKNK/Nagtegaal best drama play award
2008: Maskew Miller Longman Pearson literary award
2011: ATKV Woordveertjie nomination for best new play
2012: KykNET Fiesta awards nominated in six categories
2014: KykNET Silwerskerm Film Festival nomination best script & director
2015: South African Academy for Arts and Science Medal of Honour
2016: Sanlam/RSG/SABC Radio drama award winner
2017: ATKV Woordveertjie nomination for best new play
2018: SAFTA best SA documentary nomination
2019: Rogovy Foundation Documentary award
2021: JIAS Creative Writing Fellowship

Publications

Big Boys/More Market Theater Plays – Jonathan Ball Publishers, 1993
Don Gxubane onner die Boere – New Contrast Publishers, 1993
Vrygrond e.a. Dramas – Tafelberg Publishers, 1994
Vonkfiksie – Human & Rousseau Publishers, 1999
Vrededorp – Genugtig Publishers, 2005
New South African Plays – Aurora Metro Publishers (UK), 2006
'Kwintet' Ella se Perde – Maskew Miller Longman, 2008
The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife – Maskew Miller Longman, 2008
Droomskip e.a. Radio dramas – Nasou-Via Afrika, 2009
Vrededorp – Protea Boekehuis, 2011
The Lighthouse Keeper's Wife – NB Best Books, 2015
Offer/Sacrifice – NB Best Books, 2016
The Parrot Woman & other plays – Imagix Publications, 2022

References

^ "Charles J Fourie". Lit Net. Archived from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
^ "Fourie's Mouthpiece for the Curious". Mail & Guardian. 30 September 1994. Retrieved 29 May 2011.
^ Maripane, Kgomotso Moncho (18 September 2022). "Remembering black people's suffering and presence in the Anglo-Boer War with The Parrot Woman". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 13 October 2023.

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