Review: BUCKET BOY at Baxter Theatre Centre Is a Thrilling Exploration of the Banalities and Absurdities of Ordinary Existence

Is there anything more epitomic of the 1990s and early 2000s than the video store? In slightly more recent history, is there anything more epitomic of decay, decline, and dead dreams than the last of the DVD stores of the late 2010s? – dying prolonged, understated deaths: not with a bang but a whimper. BUCKET BOY is set in such a wasteland. David’s DVD Paradise, owned by Baardman (John Maytham), is on its last legs, occupied by hardly any DVDs (most of which have been stolen over the years) and even fewer customers. Duncan Fahrenheit (Pierre Malherbe, who also penned the script), a struggling musician whose vocabulary does not extend much beyond ‘kiff’, ‘lank’, ‘oke’ and ‘kak’, makes the transition from customer into employee to earn some extra cash.

Adrian Collins, Director and Set Designer, has perfectly captured the essence of the DVD store: his set is so spot-on that it even conjured the smell of my childhood VHS and, later, DVD store – complete with dated posters, shelves of DVD boxes, terrible carpeting, and even a crate of films with the sign “For sale: R20 each”. It made me instantly nostalgic for the days before streaming.

This quirky, offbeat play often reads like realism but there are moments of the absurd – which are often hysterical. My favourite of these bizarre moments is at the advent of the show, when Duncan (a customer at this stage) arrives to browse DVDs five minutes before closing time. During my student years I worked at a bookstore and the all-too-familiar customer/employee ‘browser-at-the-eleventh-hour’ dance is perfectly captured here in what turns into a literal dance sequence. I loved it.

Both Malherbe and Maytham are excellent. I was really looking forward to seeing Maytham on stage again, having last enjoyed his talents in SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE and RICHARD III. He does not disappoint. While Malherbe has ample stage experience, this is the first time I have seen him in action: what a treat.

The owner, Baardman, a cynical, miserable, dead-pan, and perhaps sinister man, may or may not be involved in something nefarious. Maytham’s characterisation is natural and well-developed. His range – from an impenetrable brick wall to a sobbing piece of flesh and blood – is superb. In terms of comedy, his dry delivery is the perfect foil for Malherbe’s portrayal of the softer, more vulnerable Duncan, who is a little slower than his new boss. Malherbe’s portrayal of the musician living in Obs is fantastic as well; we all know this guy. Malherbe plays him with a loveable innocence and the character grows on us like rot.

Indeed, Collins’ directing is impressive. His pacing is controlled, and he has tempered the sharp building of suspense with offbeat and unexpected humour.

To discuss the plot in any more detail would ruin the secrets of the show. This production leaves one with a lot of questions, some of which remain unanswered. The show is hilarious and, at the same time, is bizarre, disturbing, thrilling, and sometimes menacing. BUCKET BOY is the kind of play that will make you want to compare perspectives and theories with other theatregoers afterwards (seriously, email me).

In some ways, this production reminds me of the film CLERKS or one of the other workplace movies of its time, like EMPIRE RECORDS which mostly take place ‘in real time’. While BUCKET BOY spans at least a few weeks or months, that feeling of eternal waiting is what marks the similarities between these stories: Baardman is waiting for something but it is not apparent what exactly that is. Death? Redemption? Relief? Escape? David’s DVD Paradise may have a heaven-like reference in its name, but it is more like purgatory for those who waste away inside its walls.

BUCKET BOY runs from 31 October to 15 November in the Masambe Theatre at the Baxter Theatre Centre. Tickets are R180 per person and can be booked via Webtickets. The show carries an age restriction of 16.

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