Whether it’s in the drama classroom at Parel Vallei High School, or at the Somerset West community theatre, Darryl Spijkers makes it his mission to challenge his students and the community around him with the power of theatre. He spoke to SMF News’ Lienke Norval about forging a life in theatre on his own terms.
Darryl Spijkers plays a significant role in the Somerset West theatre scene, having served as the chairperson of the local Playhouse community theatre for eight years. PHOTO: Lienke Norval
“I always say: Don’t trust a drama teacher that doesn’t exercise their practice by either acting or directing, or writing.”
Darryl Spijkers walks the talk. He was headhunted to join Parel Vallei High School in 2018, where he has facilitated a four-year winning streak in the Afrikaanse Taal- en Kultuurvereniging (ATKV) Tienertoneel, a yearly competition for high school theatre productions.
Outside of Parel Vallei, Spijkers has been heavily involved in the local Playhouse community theatre and served as chairperson for eight years. At the Playhouse, he pushes the envelope, keeping the Somerset West audience on their toes by never shying away from politics, controversy or camp in the plays he directs.
Early inspiration
Spijkers attended Glenwood High School, an all-boys school in Durban. There, he started to realise his passion for the performing arts in a drama club.
“[Drama was] my hobby at school, [since] there was no subject for drama,” says Spijkers. “In matric, my drama club did People Are Living There. I acted as Sissy, because it was an all-boys school. We did it ourselves – five or six of us. We directed it, we staged it, we did the tickets, we did the posters. It was just such a wonderful project.”
Spijkers received a partial bursary at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), where he studied English and Psychology with a minor in Drama. After navigating a couple of speed bumps, Spijkers completed a degree in English teaching at the University of South Africa (Unisa) in 2004.
“I’ve made my own way. I’ve hustled. I paid my own way through Unisa after I couldn’t afford to carry on at [UKZN],” says Spijkers. “I didn’t do all my courses perfectly. I did three here and two there. So I had to piece it together.”
Spijkers moved from Durban to Somerset West in 2011 to be closer to his mother, where he taught English at local schools and coached majorettes, or “drummies”, on the side.
He remembers sitting on the side of a field at the age of six, watching his sister do drummies.
“[I was] fascinated,” he says. “It’s a sport, because you’re classified as an athlete and they are registered with SASCOC [the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee], but it’s definitely much more creative.”
“If you know drummies, you can tell that I’ve done drummies based on my plays, because I love big formations, I love visuals, I love complementary colours, or not,” he says. “I love contrast. I love a score in a play.”
Setting the stage for student success
Upon joining Parel Vallei High School in 2018, Spijkers was appointed as head of culture. He also became responsible for the school’s participation in the ATKV Tienertoneel.
It was a learning curve. In his first two years at Parel Vallei, it became clear that certain topics or themes in plays would not cut it competition-wise. But Spijkers learnt to work with his students to be creative in spite of these restrictions, resulting in Parel Vallei winning overall best production at Tienertoneel in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Darryl Spijkers believes that drama teachers should always practice their craft in some way or another. Besides teaching drama at Parel Vallei High School, Spijkers also works as a director and actor at the Playhouse community theatre. PHOTO: Lienke Norval
“Unfortunately, some people are not cool with dealing with racism on stage. Or any other interesting topics, taboo topics,” he says. “The ATKV… there’s a recipe to it. I’ll be selling it on eBay.”
Spijkers approaches a Tienertoneel production as a collaboration between himself and the students, which fosters close relationships between classmates. He feels that unpacking topics like bullying or questioning identity in plays can be cathartic for students who may be struggling with similar issues.
“I do wonder when and if Darryl ever sleeps,” says Gill Jones, whose Grade 11 son has been in Spijkers’ drama class at Parel Vallei for four years. “His energy and commitment to creating opportunities for the kids – whether writing, performing, tech or backstage – is incredible.”
“Not only my child, but so many others have benefited hugely from that space to grow and develop their ideas and selves,” she says.
Extracurricular extraordinaire
When Spijkers arrived in Somerset West, the Playhouse seemed like a natural fit.
“They needed directors and I put my hand up and it worked,” he says. “I love it and I live nearby, so why wouldn’t I keep my passion alive?”
The Playhouse opens up the floor for Spijkers to explore more political and transgressive themes in his work. A feel-good drag show called Happy Days are Here Again… Again! is currently showing at the Playhouse, which Spijkers directed and co-stars in. Among several other projects, he is also working on a rendition of Curl Up and Dye, a South African play set in a hairdressing salon during apartheid.
“I always keep the end product in mind,” says Spijkers. “This year I’m doing ten plays. Four for school and the other six for the theatre.”
Everything is political
Spijkers is outspoken about the political power of theatre. At the Playhouse, he often reworks older productions to be more contemporary.
His 2025 production of Fiddler on the Roof ended with a statistical list of casualties from major wars and conflicts throughout history, including both the Holocaust and the number of Palestinian lives lost in the ongoing conflict in Gaza and Israel.
“Darryl sees things from a different angle,” says Jon-Paul Ruschenbaum, the musical director at the Playhouse, who has collaborated with Spijkers on more than 20 different productions over the last decade. “We’ve done many classic musicals, but he’s always found a way to make it more relative, more modern, but without taking away anything from the actual story.”
This year, Darryl Spijkers is involved in ten plays, leaving some to wonder whether he ever sleeps. “I always keep the end product in mind,” says Spijkers. PHOTO: Lienke Norval
“The moment we decide to not do a drag show because most of Somerset West won’t come, or not do A Streetcar Named Desire, because she’s drinking and she has sexual desires, then what are we showing? Noddy and Rapunzel and everything that’s heteronormative,” says Spijkers. “So we have to bend and break the moulds. And I think the Playhouse has definitely done that.”