Veteran actor returns with artistic tour de force of political satire and visual comedy, writes Karen Rutter.
With his latest solo production, Laugh the Buffalo, Andrew Buckland provides a powerful master class in mime, movement and physical theatre. The veteran actor packs his 70minute performance with high-energy political satire and visual comedy, presented in his trademark incendiary style. As a lesson in control, flexibility and timing, it is an artistic tour de force. As an evening of original theatre, it is an entertainment feast.
Buckland has been creating envelope-pushing theatre for more than three decades. The combination of his fluid physicality with a sharp wit has resulted in a much-commended body of work, mostly solo pieces, that include such classics as The Ugly Noo Noo and Crazy in Love.
No surprise, then, that Buckland has picked up more than 20 national and international theatre awards, including three Scotsman Fringe First awards at the Edinburgh Festival, a Standard Bank Young Artist award and numerous Fleur du Cap, Naledi and Vita awards. This year, he won a Standard Bank Standing Ovation award at the National Arts Festival in recognition of his contribution to theatre.
All of which means one is perfectly within one’s rights to get excited about a new Buckland piece. And Laugh the Buffalo lives up to all expectations. Irreverent, funny, poignant and sussed, it has the power to turn everyday actions such as brushing one’s teeth into a major laugh fest and to tackle issues along the way.
Without getting too tangled up in the plot — and spoiling things for prospective theatre-goers — one can let slip that it involves a would-be secret agent, an actual secret agent, a silent meditation retreat and, yes, a buffalo. There is a hapless hero — we can call him Staff — around which most of the action revolves.
Staff is desperate to be staff — to get a job — so when he applies for a post and is sent on a strange orientation course, he complies. There he meets a number of hey-shoo-wow course colleagues and is tasked with delivering a secret document to a media freedom organisation called Right Uno. However, someone plans to stop him — and that someone turns out to be a big surprise.
Buckland brings with him an impish delight, his sinuous presence a pleasure to watch as he twists in and out of characters and, purely by virtue of his actions, creates an entire set on stage. Dressed in shorts and a vest, he is able to create the impression he has access to a complete wardrobe; ditto the empty stage space, which in turn becomes a bedroom, a bathroom, even a battleground.
But while Buckland is busy keeping us amused, he also has the ability to introduce a more hardcore back-story — in this case, one dealing with the suppression of information, and corruption. It is a double whammy and, in the hands of this consummate storyteller, is delivered impeccably.
It has been a while since Buckland was on stage in Cape Town with a new play. His last visit in 2010 was to present a celebratory season of three of his works. So this world premiere of Laugh the Buffalo is a special event.
By: Karen Rutter
Article Source: Sunday Times