Tributes pour in for Willoughby
2009-08-11 15:12
Cape Town - Tributes have poured in for actor, director, playwright, author and journalist Dr Guy Willoughby who died of an Aids -related illness on Tuesday.
"He was a young, talented and engaging person who contributed greatly in many spheres. His death reminds us of the tragic loss of talent to this country by a disease which crosses all boundaries," said Western Cape Premier Helen Zille.
Willoughby also adapted South African literature for radio (Uncertain Consolations, 1995, Leaven, 1996).
Close friend, actor, author and TV personality Fiona Coyne said Willoughby would be sorely missed.
"The flamboyant and mercurial charmer, ever ready with a witticism and a gallant gesture - he never walked up stairs, he bounded. He didn't smile, he twinkled," Coyne told News24.
"But the private Guy, or Buch as we knew him, was also a deeply spiritual man and an extraordinarily generous friend," said Coyne.
"He was one of those people you literally could call up at three in the morning and he'd be there for you. He lived boldly, sometimes wildly. And yet there was a strong sense of duty, too, an almost Protestant ethic of what was 'right' and 'wrong'.
"So perhaps he was just your 'typical creative type'? Intense, brilliant, dazzling and a little dark, too. But for those of us who are lucky enough to have called him 'friend', there was nothing 'typical' about him. He will be missed more sorely than the telling of it can convey," she added.
Nicolette Moses, Baxter Theatre project manager and friend, described him as "brave".
"Guy made me laugh and knew how to keep one waiting. He was wanting to revive one of his plays, and instead has left before the ink ran dry." she said.
Relief
"He was a passionate and driven man and the range of his work was incredible," actor and friend Anthea Thompson said, adding that he was witty.
Former wife Finuala Dowling said that Willoughby was brave in facing his disease and spoke about her relief at being able to confront it with him.
"He's been sick for a while and it was a relief to speak to him about his illness and approaching death."
Willoughby was writer-performer of a series of cabarets, one-man plays and satiric revues, including Major Schisstirrer, which the Cape Argus described as "an unmerciful send-up of South Africa's armed forces"
In 2000 Willoughby wrote and composed the experimental musical, African start! - The Will Schreiner Story, in which "our history jives" the Star said at the time.
He directed and co-wrote with Gary Friedman the multi-media play Looking For A Monster (2001), which The Cape Times described as "dealing with the Holocaust in a way artistically sound and historically credible".
In 2004 he wrote and performed in Church Full of Light Kereke ya Lesedi at the Baxter, starring as Jose 'Speedy' Gonsalves along with Thoko Ntshinga, Anthea Thompson, Roger Dwyer and Dumisani Sizwe Mbebe, and directed by Fred Abrahams.
In 2005 he collaborated with Athol Fugard and composer Thomas Rajna on a new opera, Valley Song, which premiered at the Spier Arts Festival.
His first novel Archangels was published in 2002.