James Whyle

James Whyle was born in 1955 and grew up in the foothills of the Amatole
Mountains and in the shadow of Gaika’s Kop. He was educated at St
Andrew’s College, Grahamstown and Rhodes University but did not complete
his BA.

In 1980 he was conscripted into the South African army. A year into his two
year stint he was discharged on the grounds of having, “an immature
personality with tendencies towards neurosis.” He did everything in his
power to assist the authorities in arriving at this diagnosis.

In 1981/2 James wrote his first play, National Madness , based on his army
experiences. National Madness was performed at the Market and Baxter Theatres
in the early eighties and published in a collection - Market Plays (1).
Gordon Englebrecht called it, “a simple, subtle and frequently satirical
portrait of the condition of militarism.” James produced and played the
leading role in the piece and started a career as an actor. Among his film
credits are Sarafina, Place of Weeping, 10th of a Second and The Stick.

James continued to write through his acting career and published poetry in
magazines like Contrast, New Coin, Upstream and Heresy. He read his work on
the left wing circuits and shared stages with poets like Don Mattera and
Ezekiel Mphahlele. He performed and read extensively with Afrikaans novelist
Ryk Hattingh. Roberts Berold’s collection, It All Begins, contains James’
poem, Sonnet for Darryl Roodt, which was written for performance with
Hattingh. A short story from that time, Sapper Fijn and the Cow, appears in
The Penguin Book of Contemporary South African Short Stories. (2)

James’ second play, Hellhound, and adaptation of Shakespeare’s Richard
111 was performed at the Market Theatre in 1992.

In the late 1990s James co-founded the Take Away Shakespeare Co and directed
productions of King Lear and Antony and Cleopatra at the National Festival of
the Arts, the Civic Theatre in Johannesburg, the Hilton Festival and in
Stellenbosch. Mary Jordan, reviewing Lear for Business Day wrote, “Whyle
has pared down the huge, flawed pyramid of King Lear to the essential
story-line of two men who are unwise and foolish in their treatment and
knowledge of their children. …Whyle’s script and casting, what Coleridge
would have called ‘the activity of his attention’, enriches our sense of
life’s possibilities.”

James turned from acting to writing television in 1994 when it became
possible for the real issues of South Africa to be addressed in that medium.

He was head writer for the second half of series 1 of TV3’s acclaimed Hard
Copy. He wrote the opening and closing episodes of series 111 of TV2’S Emmy
nominated Zero Tolerance, as well as acting as consultant head writer.

James has written two radio plays for the BBC. Dancing with the Dead was
broadcast in the U.K. in February 2002 on Radio 4. The leading role was
played by Richard E Grant. A second BBC commission, A Man Called Rejoice, was
re-broadcast for the third time in May 2004. It has been published as Rejoice
Burning in a collection, New South African Plays, by Aurora Metro
Publications. (3)

Other work includes writing feature articles for Playboy, Style and Sunday
Times Lifestyle magazines.

James’ screenplay, Otelo Burning/The Gift was recently chosen as a
candidate for the 2009 No Borders International Co-Production Market in New
York.

Examples of James’ non-fiction, including profiles of Rian Malan and Barney
Simon, can be read at: www.icon.co.za/~whyle/

James has written one book, Pure Fiction, a memoir, as yet unpublished. He is
20 000 words into his second book, the proposed novel, The Book of War/The
Wounded Man.

1 - Edited by Stephen Gray - Publisher AD. Donker. 1st published 1986,
reprinted 1991. ISBN 0 86852 070 5.
2 - Penguin Books 1993. ISBN 0 140 237267
3 - Ed. Charles J. Fourie. ISBN 0-9542330–1-8