It’s Sunday morning in a big church in Gauteng, and the dominee, black gown billowing, is delivering his booming message from the pulpit. “Don’t be afraid,” he says. “Don’t be afraid!”
It’s a refrain that is echoed hundreds of times in the Bible, an injunction to go forth and confront the future, whatever the consequences.
The congregation nods in agreement, even if they know that this is not their regular man of the cloth.
Because here today, they’re under the spell of one of South Africa’s best-loved stage and screen actors, Frank Opperman, playing the title role in “Die Klaaglierdere van ds. Tienie Benadie” (The Lamentations of Dominee Tienie Benadie).
The one-man play, written by Dana Snyman, has been a hit on the festival circuit and has been filling churches around the country since it began touring earlier this year.
The character of the dominee, battling to get to grips with changing times and his own mid-life crisis, joins a long list of memorable alter egos for Frank, from the eager-to-please Ouboet in Orkney Snork Nie, to the scheming Chris Karedes in The Big Time, to Koos Andries Koekemoer in Gauteng-a-Leng.
We caught up with the easygoing Frank to chat about changing roles in a changing world, just before he took to the road again, unafraid, with just a few clerical props in the back of his van.
Q: If you could change one thing about yourself for the better, what would that be, and why?
I would stop reading the newspaper. It depresses the living hell out of me. I’m a news junkie. Afrikaans is a great language to use when delivering bad news.
Q: How did you land your first job as an actor?
I studied drama for three years, auditioned and landed my first job with the now defunct Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal in 1984.
I worked for them for two years and resigned after being called up for an army camp.
That was the last time I contributed to a pension fund and the last time I had a permanent job. As a freelancer, they couldn’t call me up for further camps.
Q: What was your first job, before acting, and what did you learn from it?
I studied law before going to the Army. I got 1 out of 30 for my last Latin test, so I gave up on that mid year. That is why I am not a well known judge or lawyer or someone who hangs around with Latins.
No, I haven’t done anything else apart from acting. I once earned 700 dollars in LA in 1994, being part of a medical experiment filmed by the BBC.
I had the largest legal dose of MDMA, or Ecstasy, administered in the USA. Those jobs don’t come round often.
Q: Does each role you play leave you a different person in some way, because of all the time you spend being someone else?
I sometimes feel I am a bit of a method actor. A part of me becomes that character. I’ve been told I talk in my sleep…in accents.
Q: The big lesson from Dominee Tienie Benade is “don’t be afraid”. Is this a lesson you’ve been able to put into practise yourself?
Since doing this new play, I constantly catch myself saying to myself, “don’t be afraid!” There has to be some truth to that. Fear gets you nowhere.
Q: What is the biggest lesson that you’ve learned from your children?
Patience. Before I turn 100 years old, I’ll have them figured out. My son is 26 and my daughter is 7, so I’ve still got 45 years to do it in. They claim to have figured me out.
Q: What advice would you give to young South Africans who dream of entering acting as a profession?
There is not much glamour or glitz. It’s hard work, and extra hard when you’re not working.
You’ve got to create your own destiny, come up with your own schemes and scams. And you better have faith in potatoes.
Q: If you weren’t an actor, what do you think you would you be doing with your life?
After 30 years in this business, I still haven’t come up with an alternative. I think about it every time I have to walk on stage.
My maths at school was not much better than my Latin, so I do have some limitations. Being the owner of a beer factory in Knysna could be nice. As long as no one is counting.
Q: What was the single biggest and scariest change you have ever made in your life?
Every time I give up smoking cigarettes.
Q: How much change do you have in your pocket right now?
Three hundred and seventy five rands and 70 cents. The notes are rather crumpled. I’ve been told before that I must treat money with more respect and care…by a Scientologist.
Q: What role would you most like to play in the theatre or in the movies?
I’m constantly in search of that role. I have no big dreams of doing the classics, but I love new creations and being part of creating a character.
I played the part of John Proctor in The Crucible as a student. That is maybe one part I’d love to do now that my voice has broken.
Q: Which of the characters you’ve played over the years is closest to the real Frank Opperman, and in what way?
I think I have put something of myself into most of the characters I’ve attempted.
The character I loved most must have been the Greek in “The Big Time” and the character of a Portuguese funeral Parlour owner, Tony Fivaz,from the Karoo, in the new Series “Vlug na Egipte” starting on Kyknet in January 2015.
Leave a Reply