Should Paul from The bucket list be on yours?

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In a world where warmth and fuzziness à la Tuesdays with Morrie became our expectations of people living out their last in a stately way, it is important to be reminded that there are those, like Paul, who want to go kicking and screaming, dragging others with him.

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The bucket list
Created by Thamsanqa Khumalo
Written by Sbahle Magwaza
Directed by Thamsanqa Khumalo
Stage management by Sli Jili
Produced by Nonjabulo Sibisi
Performed by Ayanda Luthuli

Have you ever come across an old man with few social skills who thinks he can buy your friendship with expensive whiskey? Then, when you politely decline, he thinks that you’re playing hard to get, and just becomes more persistent and more annoying?

Well, there you have Paul, the person who has just heard he has three months to live.

Paul is old; he has been married to a (presumably) white woman, and before he dies he wants to play hide the sausage with a black girl. Plus, he needs to cheese off a few more people before he dies.

That is my summary of The bucket list.

ZemQadini

Last year I saw ZemQadini, a play, mostly in Zulu, about the blood and tears that would flow when two communities could not decide on the protocols regarding the election of a new chief. ZemQadini was tough, but it was good. It captured the folly of the communities through the eyes of two actors on a near empty stage.

The bucket list was brought to the National Arts Festival by the same team. Sadly, this one did not match the expectations created by ZemQadini.

A difficult subject

Creating and playing an awful character takes skill, but it can be done. One can imagine Pieter-Dirk Uys taking on the role of a security policeman. On stage it is possible to say and do things that are totally out of line, because of the context.

Evil on stage is as old as drama itself.

Way back Plato suggested that the tragic hero has to be likeable enough, but also evil enough. Why likeable? Well, otherwise no one would be sad when he dies. Yet if he is not evil enough, no one would want him dead.

Okay, cool. Thanks, Plato.

What about an obnoxious character like Paul? He is no hero. He is not even evil. He simply is annoying.

In The bucket list the actor steps off the stage. He engages the audience the way one would expect in a stand-up comedy show, but he remains in character. That in itself is problematic, because audiences then become defensive. The discomfort merely increases as the audience gets abused by Paul.

But then, that is the point of the show, is it not?

How does one present an utterly despicable character on stage?

It is brave to want to produce a play like this, but it certainly is not going to be a crowd puller in its present form.

Is anybody gonna miss you?

Neil Sedaka sang a song called “Is anybody gonna miss you?”. It is about a “mean old man”. A part of the lyrics goes like this:

Came the day that he died
No one prayed for his soul
Now he’s fuel for the devil’s fire
Burning like a piece of coal.

There you have it. Massive relief washed over the audience when Paul finally breathed his last.

In a world where warmth and fuzziness à la Tuesdays with Morrie became our expectations of people living out their last in a stately way, it is important to be reminded that there are those, like Paul, who want to go kicking and screaming, dragging others with him.

And why not? They exist. They live among us. That is what The bucket list shows us.

Why be the sage on the stage when you can be the vengeful person who obnoxiously forces others to be your friend simply because you can afford expensive whiskey?

The bucket list made me think. It stuck with me.

I spent an hour and a half travelling home after seeing it, and frankly, I kept returning to the play, just as one’s tongue would to a sore tooth.

It bugged me. It still does. I kept looking for those moments when a person shone through behind the veneer of the obnoxious old man, like when he worries about his son being left behind. There were these glimpses of humanity, before Paul launched into another obnoxious tirade.

The bucket list made me think, about myself as well, and yet, if I were to be told that I had three months to live, this play would not be on my bucket list to see again.

Litnet