Pieter-Dirk Uys brings his alter egos to the festival

IN CELEBRATION of the Standard Bank National Arts Festival's 25th anniversary, Pieter-Dirk Uys and his multitude of alter-egos perform five titillating, tantalising and thought-provoking productions.

A Festival faithful, Uys has consistently delighted Grahamstown audiences with his unique and irreverent style of comedy.

This year promises to be no exception, while his focus may have evolved along with our democratic society, sacred cows are still at risk, the government is still not safe and his dress sense is still as outrageously stylish.

The Festival line-up includes some of Uys' most popular shows, but if you've read the reviews don't think you know what it's all about, the content changes according to the day's events.

It's like the news -- only much, much better.

Topping the bill is, of course, Evita Bezuidenhout -- the most famous white woman in the Rainbow Nation.

In Tannie Evita Praat Kaktus, she solves problems, offers advice and takes audiences on a walk down the roads of truth, transparency, designer democracy and politically incorrect opinion.

It is a talk on the ecology centred on the Cactus of Separate Development and shows why Mrs Bezuidenhout makes women smile, men sweat and politicians nervous.

Not to be outdone, Evita's mother-- Ouma Ossewania Poggenpoel -- takes centre stage in a show all her own.

Neglected, alone and waiting for her family to come and visit her in an old age home, 99-year-old Ouma Ossewania has lived through it all and offers an orgy of opinion on everything from her family, religion and race though to Louis Luyt and Eugene Terreblanche.

Ouma Ossewania Praat Vuil is a hilarious, daring and enlightened memoir filled with political and social commentary -- but be warned, it's filled with rude Afrikaans words.

Uys' popular kugel character Nowell Fine, a firm favourite with audiences for 15 years, brings a sparkle to the Festival in the production Going Down Gorgeous.

Spanning the years 1981 to 2004, this is the saga of Ms Fine -- a white liberal in the old South Africa and comrade madam in the new.

A story of the ups and downs of being left while voting right and being right while everything else feels wrong.

Dekaffirnated is Uys' new look at black and white in a fading Rainbow Nation on the eve of the birth of a new millennium, specifically the power of language and the use of certain words to imprison and degrade.

It is the perfect antidote with its New South Africa characters and icons -- all played by Uys -- reflecting the adorable, the absurd and the obscene in our extraordinary society today.

On a slightly different note, Uys teams up with Godfrey Johnson to present a witty, entertaining and nostalgic show entitled Noel and Marlene.

This is a fictional look at a whimsical 1953 afternoon when the legendary Marlene Dietrich visits dramatist and songwriter Noel Coward at his New York apartment.

Together the two famous friends make magic and music in the world of "what could have been" in an inspiring piece of unclassifiable theatre.