Andrew Frederick Buckland (born 4 February 1954 in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

) is a South African award-winning playwright, performer, film director, mime, and academic.

Biography

Born and schooled in Zimbabwe. He is married to actress Janet Buckland. Their son Daniel Buckland is also an actor; another son,

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

was an Internet entrepreneur and businessman who died in 2019.

Training

He trained at

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

, graduating in 1979 with a BA Honours in Drama.

Career

He became a junior lecturer, then joined the Performing Arts Council of the Transvaal (PACT) (1980-1984) as actor. In 1992 Buckland became a member of the First Physical Theatre Company and a lecturer in the Drama Department at

. Later senior lecturer and finally professor, Buckland retired from Rhodes University in December 2017.

Contribution to South African theatre

For PACT he played in, '' inter alia'', ''

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ''Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'' is a three-act play written by Tennessee Williams. An adaptation of his 1952 short story "Three Players of a Summer Game", the play was written by him between 1953 and 1955. One of Williams's more famous works and his p ...

'', ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...

'' (1982), '' Savages'', '' Tom Jones'' and '' Bloed in die Strate'' (by Harry Kalmer), ''

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' is a play by Edward Albee first staged in October 1962. It examines the complexities of the marriage of a middle-aged couple, Martha and George. Late one evening, after a university faculty party, they receive ...

'' (1984). Performed in ''

Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...

'' (as “Tybalt” with CAPAB), ''Monday After the Miracle'' (as “John Macy” with PACT), ''Shrivings'' (as “David” with PACT), ''

The Runner Stumbles ''The Runner Stumbles'' is a 1979 American drama film directed and produced by Stanley Kramer, based on the Broadway play by Milan Stitt. The film was the last of Kramer's long and distinguished career. It stars Dick Van Dyke, Kathleen Quinlan, Mau ...

'' (

Pieter Toerien Pieter Toerien (born 1942) is a South African producer and theatre manager, responsible for bringing many large scale musicals to South African stages, including ''Cats'', Disney's ''Beauty and the Beast'', ''The Lion King'' and ''Phantom of ...

). Andrew gradually began to create his own theatre works (including ''The Mime'', ''Stillborn'' and ''Matches'') and in 1987 he and Janet Buckland founded Mouthpeace Theatre in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

(moving it to

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

in 1992), working closely with their friends Lionel Newton, and director Lara Foot-Newton. He created a distinctive style of theatre for himself, utilizing the techniques of physical theatre and mime to relate his poetic fantasies. Among his best known works are ''Touchstones'' (1984), ''Pas de Deux'', which he had co-written with Soli Philander (1986), the much-admired and multiple award-winning ''The Ugly Noonoo'' (1988/1989), ''Between the Teeth'' (1990), ''Bloodstream'' (with Lionel Newton - 1992), ''Feedback'' (also with Newton, 1995), ''Noisy Walk'' (1996), ''The Water Juggler'' /''The Well Being'' (1998), and **** (2001). ''Laugh the Buffalo'' (2013), directed by Janet Buckland; the ghost of Christmas Present in ''Scrooge'' (

Baxter Theatre The Baxter Theatre Centre is a performing arts complex in Rondebosch, a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. The Baxter, as it is often known, is part of the University of Cape Town; it is also the second largest performing arts complex in Cape ...

, 2013); 2014: ''Crazy in Love'' (with A Conspiracy of Clowns) His ''The Investigation of an Ugly Noo Noo'' was staged at the Warehouse in 1988. ''Touchstones'', 1984, Grahamstown Festival. ''The Ugly Noo Noo'': A Trilogy, Market Theatre, 1989. ''The Inconvenience of Wings'' by Lara Foot in 2016, ''Makana on the Island'' in 2001 at the Grahamstown Festival. He starred in David Mamet’s ''

Speed the Plow ''Speed-the-Plow'' is a 1988 play by David Mamet that is a satirical dissection of the American movie business. As stated in ''The Producer's Perspective'', "this is a theme Mamet would revisit in his later films ''Wag the Dog'' (1997) and ''St ...

'' at Upstairs at the Market in 1990, ''

A Doll's House ''A Doll's House'' (Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having bee ...

'' at Upstairs at the Market in 1990, in a return run of ''The Ugly Noo Noo'' at the Market Theatre in 1991. He directed Soli Philander in Philander’s ''Take Two'' at the Laager Theatre in Johannesburg in 1991. Performed in ''Love'' for

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

in 2009. He played Hamlet for the

SABC The South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) is the public broadcaster in South Africa, and provides 19 radio stations ( AM/ FM) as well as six television broadcasts to the general public. It is one of the largest of South Africa's state ...

in 1983. His film work includes roles in ''Shotdown'', ''The Schoolmaster'', ''Dirty Games'', ''The Good Fascist'' and ''Quest for Love''.

Awards

Awards include the Standard Bank Young Artist Awards for Drama for ''Pas de Deux'' (1986), The Scotsman Fringe Award (Edinburgh Festival - 1995) for ''Feedback'', several Vita Awards, the Fleur du Cap Award for Best New Indigenous Script (1989).

References

Sources

This article was copied fro
Andrew Buckland
at the Encyclopaedia of South African Theatre, Film, Media and Performance, which i
in the public domain
* * * * * * National Arts Festival programme, 2000. 135.

External links

Biography at South African Who's who

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckland, Andrew 1954 births Living people 20th-century South African male actors South African male stage actors White South African people Rhodes University academics Rhodes University alumni