Sylvaine Strike

Last updated

Sylvaine Strike
Born
Pretoria, South Africa
Alma mater University of Cape Town
Occupations
AwardsChevalier des Arts et des Lettres (2019)

Sylvaine Strike is a South African actress, writer and theatre director based in Cape Town, South Africa. She is the co-founder of Fortune Cookie Theatre, and has won multiple Naledi Theatre awards for her acting and directing. In 2018 Strike was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.

Contents

Early life

Strike was born in Pretoria to French-speaking parents, and grew up in Verwoerdburg. [1] [2] She studied at the University of Cape Town and graduated with a degree in drama in 1993. Strike studied further from 1998 to 2000 in Paris at Jacques LeCoq School where she completed a two-year diploma with a focus in mime and clown. [3] [4] [5]

Career

Theatre

Strike is the artistic director of Fortune Cookie Theatre, which she co-founded in 2000. [6] With Fortune Cookie Theatre, Strike has directed such shows as Molière's The Miser (2012) and Tartuffe (2017) [7] and the Chekhov-adaptation, Tobacco and the Harmful Effects Thereof (2016). [8] In 2004, Strike co-created the show Black and Blue with other members of Fortune Cookie, which she also starred in. [4] In 2015, Fortune Cookie remounted the production. [9]

Outside of Fortune Cookie Theatre, Strike has directed shows such as Miss Dietrich Regrets (2015), [10] DOP (2019), [11] and ECLIPSED (2019). [12] Strike also assisted in adapting the story of Snow White into Snow White - The Ballet for Joburg Ballet in 2017. [13] In 2023 she worked with Damon Galgut to adapt his novel, The Promise into a stage production. [14] In 2024, Strike directed her first musical, Spring Awakening, an adaptation of the 1891 German play Frühlings Erwachen, by Frank Wedekind. [15]

Film and television

Strike has appeared in such films as District 9 (2009). [16] Strike has had roles on television shows like Those Who Can't, [17] Black Sails , [18] Mad Dogs , and The Hot Zone . [19]

Awards

Strike was awarded the Rosalie van den Gucht Best New Director in 2004.[ citation needed ] In 2006, Strike was awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Drama. In 2010, she was one of twenty-five nominees for the Rolex Mentor Protégé Arts Initiative. [20]

Strike won the Fleur du Cap Best Director Theatre Award for her acclaimed production of Samuel Beckett's Endgame for the Baxter Theatre Centre, Cape Town. [21] Endgame was also awarded Best Production and Best Actor. [21]

As a performer Strike has won the Naledi Best Actress Award 2004 and 2006 for her roles in Black and Blue and Coupé. She has further been nominated in the Best Director category at the Naledi, Fleur du Cap and Woordfees Awards 2016 for her direction of the critically acclaimed plays Tobacco and Dop. The Miser won her the Naledi Best Director Award 2012 [22] and Best Production of a Play 2012.[ citation needed ]Strike'sTartuffe in 2018 was awarded best supporting actress for Khutjo Green, best ensemble award and best costume design in the Naledi awards. [23]

In 2011, Strike's production of Butcher Brothers was awarded the Naledi Award for Best-Cutting Edge Production. [24] In 2014, Strike was recognized as the Featured Artist at the National Arts Festival in South Africa. As featured artist, Strike worked with the arts festival committee to create a retrospective of her work. [25] Strike was awarded a 2017 SAFTA in the category Best Supporting Actress - TV Comedy for her work on the show Those Who Can't . [17] Strike was nominated for a Kanna Award for her direction of DOP in 2017. [26]

Strike was awarded the Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2018 for her contribution to the performing arts. [3]

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References

  1. ↑ Bain, Keith (26 September 2023). "Booker Prize-winning 'The Promise' reimagined for stage". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  2. ↑ Sassen, Robyn (31 March 2019). "Sylvaine Strike knighted by the French". My View by Robyn Sassen and other writers. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Sylvaine Strike receives France's top cultural award". French Embassy in South Africa | Ambassade de France en Afrique du Sud. 31 March 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  4. 1 2 Middeke, Martin; Schnierer, Peter Paul; Homann, Greg, eds. (2015). The Methuen Drama Guide to Contemporary South African Theatre. Bloomsbury. p. 81. ISBN   978-1-4081-7671-9 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ Morkel, Toni (1 January 2010). "An interview with Sylvaine Strike". South African Theatre Journal. 24 (1): 201–208. doi:10.1080/10137548.2010.9687929. ISSN   1013-7548. S2CID   178577079.
  6. ↑ "About". Fortune Cookie Theatre Company. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  7. ↑ Krueger, Anton (2019). "Revolutionary Trends at the South African National Arts Festival". In Eckersall, Peter; Grehan, Helena (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Politics. Routledge. p. 47. ISBN   978-0-203-73105-5.
  8. ↑ Stones, Lesley (15 February 2016). "Review: Tobacco, and the Harmful Effects Thereof". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  9. ↑ Taylor, Victoria (1 October 2015). "Black and Blue returns to Jozi". Alex News. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  10. ↑ Sassen, Robyn (16 June 2015). "Underneath the star quality of Marlene Dietrich". The Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  11. ↑ "DOP, a mesmerising tale of an ordinary man". Bedfordview Edenvale News. 29 December 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  12. ↑ BWW News Desk (2 October 2019). "Mental Health Awareness Takes Centre Stage At The Market Theatre". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  13. ↑ Ferreira, Pinto (20 September 2017). "'Snow White': a ballet spectacle". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  14. ↑ Striking the right tone — Booker Prize-winning novel ‘The Promise’ reimagined for stage Daily Maverick. 26 September 2023
  15. ↑ Nagel, Andrea (25 February 2024). "When hormones rush in and parents check out". Times Live. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  16. ↑ "District 9". Dove Family Friendly Movie Reviews. 14 August 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  17. 1 2 MorneJK (19 March 2017). "Stars descend on SAFTAs red carpet: Here are the winners". Jacaranda FM. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  18. ↑ "Julianna Margulies on outbreak thriller The Hot Zone, filmed in SA". Screen Africa. 17 February 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  19. ↑ The Hot Zone (TV Mini-Series 2019) - IMDb , retrieved 6 July 2020
  20. ↑ Hoho, Busisiwe (21 June 2020). "Sylvaine strikes again with The Butcher Brothers". www.grocotts.co.za. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  21. 1 2 Eeden, Marli van (15 March 2019). "Director Sylvaine Strike on the success of Endgame at the Fleur du Cap Awards - LitNet". LitNet - Die boekehuis met baie wonings. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  22. ↑ May, Jackie (5 April 2013). "MY CULTURAL LIFE: Sylvaine Strike". Times Live. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  23. ↑ Admin, N. A. F. (19 June 2018). "Catch Naledi award winners at the Festival". National Arts Festival. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  24. ↑ de Beer, Diane (8 March 2011). "Top of the theatre charts". www.iol.co.za. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  25. ↑ SABC News (4 April 2014). "Sylvaine Strike named as the Featured Artist on the 2014 National Arts Festival programme". Youtube. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2020.
  26. ↑ "A Conversation with Sylvaine Strike". Sarafina Magazine. 20 April 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
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