Litnet

Sylvaine Strike’s very particular work as both director and theatre maker has moved hearts and minds since her first break-through at the National Arts Festival in 2002, when she directed and co-devised the runaway success Baobabs Don’t Grow Here for which she was awarded the Fleur du Cap Best New Director 2004.

From these humble beginnings, critically acclaimed work continued to follow, earning her a list of award winning productions including: Black and Blue; The Travellers; Coupé; The Butcher Brothers; The Table; The Miser; Tobacco; CARGO: Precious; Agreed; Miss Dietrich Regrets; Travels Around My Room; Dop; Tartuffe by Molière; Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard, and most recently the highly acclaimed Endgame by Samuel Beckett for the Baxter Theatre in 2018.

Sylvaine is dedicated to nurturing young performers, directors, designers and stage managers, encouraging them to showcase themselves within the work that she produces. Her role as mentor, theatre maker and director comes with the responsibility of producing theatre for a new generation, a challenge she is very passionate about.

Sylvaine has just been awarded the Fleur Du Cap Best Director 2018, for her direction of Endgame, which also won Best Production and Best Actor.

She is the recipient of the Standard Bank Young Artist for Drama for 2006.

She was made the Featured Artist of the National Arts Festival in 2014, showcasing 5 cutting edge productions that year.

Her production of Tartuffe was given the Fleur du Cap Award for Best Leading Actor and the Naledi Award for Best Ensemble.

The Miser which won her the Naledi Best Director Award 2012, and Best Production of a Play 2012, put her on the map as a contemporary director capable of realizing inspired, re-imagined classical work.

She has further been nominated in the Best Director category at the Naledi, Fleur du Cap and Woordtrofees Awards 2016 for her direction of the critically acclaimed plays Tobacco, Dop and Curse of the Starving Class in 2018. 

Sylvaine is also theatre, television and film actress, most recently winning the SAFTA 2016 Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy for her role as the weird and twisted Agatha Borg in the series Those who Can’t. As a performer she has won the Naledi Best Actress Award 2004 and 2006 for her roles in Black and Blue and Coupé.

• Photo: Suzie Bernstein