In a prolific year (1997) Strydom toured Belgium with Vrou by die Spieël and State of the Heart, staged the same works at arts festivals in South Africa, and also created the cabaret n Vuur gevang in Glas using texts by Hennie Aucamp.
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Johannesburg's famous Market Theatre was the venue for her first performance in one of Hennie Aucamp's cabarets, Met Permissie Gesê (Said With Permission).
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The writer Hennie Aucamp had an enormous influence on Strydom's development as a cabaret singer, and she still acknowledges him as her mentor.