Life & Times of Michael K
The sirens and overhead airplanes immediately provide the backdrop for this often sad and somewhat harrowing tale. A fictional civil war in South Africa is ever present. J.M. Coetzee’s 1983 Booker Prize winning novel Life & Times of Michael K was adapted for the stage in a visually arresting production.
Michael K is an everyman. He was born with a cleft lip, always an outcast of sorts. He suffers indignities through life. When he enacts a plan to return his ailing mother to her childhood farm he comes face to face with the dystopian world around him. The dramatic events are not farfetched: curfews, raids, labor camps, refugees, mayhem and destruction. Conflicts occur amidst Michael’s good intentions.
This production was an enormous hit at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and has had other productions elsewhere. The reasons are numerous. Michael, his mother and many of the characters are puppets manipulated by up to three actors. Their character movements and expressions are precise, developing many layers of emotional depth.
The telling of this everyman story through an intricately carved wooden figure is inspired. Michael chases a goat (puppet) into a river in a marvelously inventive scene which is visually astonishing. Handspring Puppet Company (War Horse) designed the very memorable creations.
Surrounding this wonder is a solid cast who manage to interact with the puppets as well as embody them. Added to that are film segments (such as travel) which include close ups of the puppets moving through their journey. The play is enhanced by a musical composition by Kyle Shepherd. All of the individual pieces point to a truly inventive imagining of a classic tale. Lara Foot adapted the book and directed this piece.
Unfortunately the proceedings were plodding at best and, I hate to say, not infrequently boring. Two hours of slow paced storytelling along with fragmentary transitions were a challenge to sit through. The richness of the visuals and the performances could not overcome the tedium. Three of us attended together. Rarely are we all completely in sync when we see something. We were wholly aligned on this one and, therefore, disappointed by this highly lauded theatrical event.
Life & Times of Michael K was performed at the St. Ann’s Warehouse and concluded its run on December 23, 2023. Next up is Volcano described as part theater, part dance and part sci-fi thriller running January 10th through the 21st.