Something Funny Is Happening Here… BUCK SCOURGE LIVING NIGHTMARE Comes To Auckland!

Sean Burnett Dugdale-Martin is a clown from Wellington who has recently joined the illustrious ranks of New Zealanders who trained in the silly business over in France. They can be seen candidly during a class in the recently released documentary about Philippe Gaulier: The Man Who Waits For Freedom.

Just two weeks ago, Dugdale-Martin walked away from the NZ Fringe Festival 2026 in Wellington with two awards: Most Innovative Work and Melbourne Tour Ready Award. Both awards are for Sean’s other show, Dune But Worse BUT before Dune there was Buck. 

Made as a way to practice and hone smaller-scale cabaret-sized clown bits BUCK SCOURGE: LIVING NIGHTMARE is a comedic Frankenstein. Smaller games and characters have been strung together into a larger monster. It has been described as “Mr Bean meets Aunty Donna” and as “Brain rot without a phone” this show focuses specifically on playing with the audience. 

The storyline is less literal and instead focuses on a spiritual continuity that Dugdale-Martin developed during their time overseas. “At Ecole Philippe Gaulier, they teach you to be yourself. Not to put on an act or pretend to enjoy yourself or to do what you might think others want. They are really good at spotting it in others,” Dugdale-Martin says, “and so the show is about the idea that if we play honestly with each other, and to show our own version of pure joy, then we’ll all be the better for it.”

BUCK SCOURGE: LIVING NIGHTMARE and all the others of Dugdale-Martin’s works are designed to be light, stupid, and playful. They believe that they contribute to the arts ecosystem by providing a form of escapism that’s light and cheerful- to give people a break from their activism or critical thought. These shows are meant to distract you and recharge your batteries in order to more effectively go back outside the theatre and fight for the change we want to see in the world.

Alongside this solo show, Dugdale-Martin has also been hosting an ensemble sketch, clown and comedy show, THE DEVILS ARE COMING every quarter in Wellington as a space for people to test clowning for themselves in front of an audience. Rehearsing clowning is very dull (making it impossible and/or insufferable to do alone) as it requires the life of an audience to prove whether something sinks or sings. 

And now, after three successful seasons in Wellington across two years BUCK SCOURGE: LIVING NIGHTMARE finally comes to Auckland, where Dugdale-Martin attended undergrad and first developed a sense for the funnier stuff. Spending three years at the University of Auckland studying maths and drama under a Bachelor of Arts, they also dedicated two years to running Stray Theatre Company, one as a treasurer and the next as president. 

“It’s a real honour to be able to bring a show to Basement considering all the time I spent training in Auckland” Dugdale-Martin goes on (without prompting), “I’ve been in Wellington since late 2019 and none of my good friends from my Auckland days have seen what I’ve been up to- which makes me super excited to show them!”

BUCK SCOURGE: LIVING NIGHTMARE is on at Basement next week (at the time of writing) on the 26th and 27th of March, 6.30pm. If you have any questions about clowning, or are curious about anything mentioned in this article, please contact Sean via their email. Seandugdalemartin97@gmail.com