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Tim Kenneth Kicks the Bucket

 
A. A. Lewis Review by A. A. Lewis 3 Published: 20 Aug 2025 theSpace @ Surgeons' Hall Show Dates: 11 Aug 2025-16 Aug 2025

Tim Kenneth Kicks the Bucket is a philosophical comedy that is equal parts silly and highbrow satire in the vernacular of Whit Stillman and Dead Poets Society. In many respects, this fusion of easy, self-aware fun-poking – mainly rooted in one of the characters’ low intelligence and lack of self-awareness – and philosophically minded irony works. We are presented with three totally distinct characters: the titular Tim, a philosophy professor at Rutgers University (where much of the play’s action unfolds), and two students whose incongruous personalities drive much of the play’s conflict and comedy.

A play with real heart, wit, and wisdom, performed by a magnetic ensemble

Pencil, an archetypal nerd who idolises Professor Kenneth and is written expertly in the ear-splittingly privileged East Coast argot of The Secret History, does not seem like he would get along with the archetypal slacker Scooter, who, like an early Richard Linklater subject, detests education and everything about it. When Scooter pranks Tim Kenneth on the worst day he could possibly have been pranked, it is the final straw: Kenneth finds himself plummeting into a helpless existential spiral befitting a professor of philosophy. Together, Pencil and Scooter aim to rescue Professor Kenneth and, in doing so, discover things about themselves and each other.

On paper, it is a tried-and-tested premise with a familiar setting and vibe, but there are moments of brilliance and authenticity sprinkled throughout this hidden gem: think The Holdovers meets Falling Down, where the power dynamics are shifted and the vulnerability of the teacher or authority figure is brought to the limelight. Tim Kenneth Kicks the Bucket poses questions about education but also makes very important points about self-perception, masculinity, and privacy, all communicated with predominantly slick dialogue, smooth direction, and some gut-wrenchingly funny gags. The audience did not stop laughing for the play’s duration. The unique personalities of the two central students were also acted with nuance and fully realised characterisation; the differences between the characters’ physicality were well observed in particular.

That said, the play suffers from a typical case of losing momentum around the halfway point, once we have got to know the characters and they had decided to help their professor in the most absurd way possible. After this, what began as a tightly structured and compelling scenario devolved into far too much randomness and unfocused chaos, which, while driven by the clashing personalities of the central duo, felt far too incongruous with the style of comedy the play had established in its first half. In fact, so much of the second half seemed to come out of nowhere that the production felt more like a set of distinct sketches rather than the one-act drama the exceptional first part established.

Tim Kenneth Kicks the Bucket is a play with real heart, wit, and wisdom, performed by a magnetic ensemble, but it falls victim to a loss of narrative drive and seemingly does not quite know what it wants to be.

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The Blurb:

When their philosophy professor, Tim Kenneth, suffers a meltdown in class, obnoxious prankster Scooter and teacher’s pet Pencil embark on an odyssey through the suburbs of New Jersey, saddled with the weight of their own existence and with complicated feelings towards their lecturer.