By Frederick Philander WINDHOEK Actor, play director, performing arts lecturer at UNAM and father of three, Danie Strydom (49), passed away suddenly on Sunday in the Medi-Clinic after a long kidney illness. He leaves his wife, Irene, and three children, two of whom are studying in the United States and the other in South Africa. In life Strydom, who was born in Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, taught drama and theatre at the Windhoek College and the Performing Arts Department at UNAM for a number of years. The former teacher also obtained a BA Drama honours degree from UNAM in 1992. At the Windhoek College of Education, Danie lectured drama, did speech training and also taught drama-in-education for eleven years before joining UNAM. He directed several plays and musical shows with students, with whom he toured in Namibia and South Africa, and also acted in plays with Aldo Behrens locally as well as in Belgium. The funeral will take place this morning at 11h00 from the Eros Dutch Reformed Church. Strydom, who was researching the history of the former SWAPAC Arts Council in Namibia for an MA degree, published a literary work on the dramas of South African playwright, Athol Fugard. Other works by him include research on “Drama in Namibian Schools’ in 1988 and research on Namibian traditional and oral history. The well-loved lecturer also assisted several Namibian schools and other institutions in the arrangement, direction and presentation of concerts, musicals, plays, debates, revues and recitals over the years. He particularly liked working with church organizations, the Cancer Association, old age and children’s homes. Danie was also a well-known and respected theatre and drama adjudicator for events such as the annual Youth Theatre Festival, and was acclaimed as best director by the Afrikaanse Taal en Kultuur Vereeniging (ATKV). He was also an accomplished pianist. Aldo Behrens, with whom Strydom had a close working relationship for many years, as well as Committed Artists of Namibia with whom he often shared creative stage ideas, both paid tribute to the deceased. “Strydom’s family has lost a dedicated and caring husband and father, I have lost a dear friend, a very competent colleague and an extremely talented, innovative and imaginative theatre comrade, and the country has lost a capable lecturer with lots of integrity,” said Behrens. “Apart from his humanness, which manifested continuously and permanently in his care for his loved ones, he was a disciplined and professional practitioner. He is known within and outside the borders of Namibia for his characterizations in many works,” said the professor. Works Strydom had been part of include: Hamm in Becket’s ‘Endgame’; The Man in Pirandello’s ‘The Man with the Flower in his Mouth’; Lomov in Checkov’s ‘The Proposal’; Barney in David Mamet’s ‘Duck Variations’; and himself in ‘Variasies omtrent Afrikaans’; ‘Variasies omtrent Gebed en Passie’; ‘Al op die Olifanttrop se Spoor’; ‘Dawid Klong van God’; ‘Dors’; and for the Cancer Association ‘Hyl jou Stiltes Stil’. “Danie was also an articulated impromptu musician and in all the above-mentioned productions he co-planned and performed the musical interludes. For ‘Voor een dag van Morgen’ he and Cezar especially crafted the musical leitmotifs. He was a story-teller par excellence and entertained audiences wherever a stage was available. His colleagues and students respected and loved him for the person’s person he was who could get a job done. I will miss him,” he said. Actress Felicity Celento paid homage to Strydom on behalf of CAN as follows: “Thinking of Danie Strydom, one recalls a person full of laughter and a passion for life. A great deal of this passion was most probably born from his love for people and, of course, the theatre,” she said. “I recall the first time observing Danie, advising the high school drama teacher in directing quite a serious play. ‘Hope I meet him in the adult drama world’, I then thought by myself. Well, lucky I was. After being introduced to the adult world of arts and culture, and in particular play-acting, I had the privilege of personally meeting with Danie on numerous occasions,” she said. According to Celento, although an academic in the field of theatre, Strydom always found time to explore unconventional theatre, mostly produced and delivered by raw talent from the township streets. “He also acted as judge for the Annual Youth Theatre Festival, staged by Committed Artists of Namibia. His expertise, valued insights and recommendations shared during these events have inspired many a playwright and actor to improve their skills. “Remembering Danie on an overseas theatre excursion – laughing, joking, sharing serious thoughts of life, too, and looking forward to what an audience in a foreign country would make of the Afrikaans version of ‘King of the Dump’. Seated in a restaurant, whispering over the menu, and ultimately looking forward to the experience of enjoying Belgian ‘Paard Steak’,” she recalled. Yes, Danie was fun to be with, yet one could learn such a lot from him, not in the line of drama only, but also as a people’s person, embracing and living life to the fullest. “We, in CAN, salute Danie Strydom, a fellow artist, a teacher, a person, father and husband, to be sadly missed – greeted with a tear, but to be remembered with a smile,” said Celento, the organizing secretary of CAN.