𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝗹’𝘀 𝗚𝘂𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 & 𝗗𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 – 𝟮𝟬𝟬𝟲 – 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗯𝘆 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱.

𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱. 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝗲𝘁 𝗕𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱.

I attended the last performance of the current season at the Drama Factory, in the Strand on May 17, 2026.


Absolutely loved loved loved.

Hilarious. Brilliant. Ingenious.

This is a new work and Buckland says it is “quite a baby”. But, I reckon it’s fully cooked.

It’s wacky, wry, hilarious, clever; a wild car ride through the AI influenced landscape of ours, in which humans are being disintermediated. It’s about a lot – Milton – a man out to save his son. Death, dying and decay are characters. There is redemption – of sorts.

It is pure theatre. No screens are used. No AV. There is a chair and a mat. And Buckland who plays multiple characters in a zany, and twisted plot, on speed – as in cars.  The cars are characters. They tend to upstage the humans and Buckland as the clown, jester, mime-ster has such fun with the cars – Milton’s bunged up wreck, the self-drive electric powered car of the influencer/podcaster There are lots of bros’ called Chad. Adorable characters- make it utterly #clickbait.

Milton we learn, was a serial failure, with three failed start-ups; living in his car, homeless. Estranged from his brother who had invested in one of his ventures, he adopts his brother’s baby, when his brother and his wife tragically die. And hey presto, Milton clicks on a link and the next thing, the cute Billy is an internet sensation. He has gone viral. They have a great house, cars, millions of fans. Then when Billy comes of age, Milton is disintermediated as his screen dad and herein lies the plot as Milton revs into action to save Billy and himself – from the clutch and delusion of living in a world tethered to AI, of technology – to find his humanity – to find all of our humanity. He just has to navigate Death and that is the doula in this journey which could have just been about AI.

In a pop-up interview after the performance at the Drama Factory, Buckland muses: “The play started really, with what is the relationship between humanity and tech? Human meets tech – what could possibly go wrong?” But in making, it is less about tech and more about the way humans reveal themselves, “through the lens of the fool, of comedy”.  I have archived the interview here: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1B93fnKqBX/ and https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYc4CLqNvvK/ and https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSx6pycy7/

One of the first questions, he kept hearing, when the work was in development was: “AI, AI is coming – but what is the difference between AI and humans and immediately the answer for me, was Death. Death is the presence for humans. A machine has no concept [of death] … The visceral understanding that your body, all the time, is undergoing death; your cells are dying, cells are being replaced … So death is a constant companion for humans. Death became a character in the work. In a way, I think he is characterised for us not to spend so much time, in terror of him … without death, there cannot be life”

Brilliant script. Physical theatre, clowning, mime, climbing through sewers (service tunnels), rowing across to the other side – of life. The play pings for me of Greek Mythology, Kafka, Super heroes, Pulp Fiction (as in Tarantino), the screen as our medium of life. It is a cautionary tale and of course we are living the tale – like, comment, share – blubbblubb – as Buckland burbles and babbles  – beyond language. Oh, yes the vacuum cleaner is adorable but be careful for what you wish for.

Fools Guide premiered at the KKNK, March 2026. It was commissioned by KKNK. It was on recently at Suidoosterfees. Buckland won Best Male Actor at the KNKK Kanna Awards. Janet Buckland was nominated as Best Director.

Let’s not get ageist but Buckland is 72 and he is absolutely effing incredible. Incomparable, 72 is the new 32, you know what I mean. A shout-out to Janet Buckland – his wife, partner and director of his work. Taught direction. At 65 minutes, it’s lean, without any smaltz.


Fools is touring to small towns, including National Arts Festival, Makhanda.

❇ Pic: Andrew Buckland in he Fool’s Guide to Living & Dying. Pic: Hans van der Veen. Supplied,