Theatre: The Fool’s Guide  

03 October at 17:00, 04 October at 09:30, 06 October at 16:00. 

Ida’s Valley Primary School

Andrew Buckland is alone on stage, but he is never really alone. He shifts between characters, voices and personalities so quickly that, at times, you try to work out who you are watching instead of following the story. 

The Fool’s Guide to Living and Dying, written by Andrew and Janet Buckland and directed by Janet, is a one-man production performed by Andrew. The play explores technology, social media, artificial intelligence (AI), humanity, and death through comedy and theatre.

^{Andrew Buckland brings every character to life with his body, voice and movement, showing the power of physical theatre. PHOTO: Mia Park}

Andrew’s ability to create an entire world largely through his body and voice is remarkable. 

His acting was brilliant throughout the play, as he seamlessly switched from one character to another. With very little on stage to assist him – just a chair – he relied on his body, voice, movement, and sounds to create an entire cast. His ability to move from Milton Yonaire, a father searching for his son, Billy, into an influencer, a tech bro and other characters showed just how skilled he is as a physical theatre performer. 

But for me, this was also where the production became difficult to follow. 

The changes between characters were not always clear. Andrew would shift his position, voice or mannerisms and suddenly become someone else, but it was a struggle to work out which character he was embodying. 

The storyline itself became increasingly difficult to follow as more characters and ideas were introduced. Milton’s search for Billy is mixed with the tech bro overlords, social media, AI, deepfakes, and an influencer with her dog, Porky. There is even a mysterious robot vacuum cleaner. These different threads are deliberately part of the play’s surreal world, but one struggles to see how they are connected. 

The discussion around death and dying added another layer of confusion. The production moves from the familiar world of technology and social media into questions about humanity, life and death. The larger questions the play was asking included how technology shapes human relationships, how AI can blur our understanding of what is real, and what it means to remain human in an increasingly digital world, were communicated clearly. However, the journey towards those questions was not so explicit.

Had there been more performers on stage, the story might have been easier to follow and the comedic moments more fun. 

The Fool’s Guide to Living and Dying is ultimately a showcase of Andrew’s extraordinary physical performance. However, for me, the production’s many characters and narrative threads became overwhelming. I left the theatre impressed by Andrew’s talent, but still trying to piece together the story.