St. Ann’s Warehouse will present the American premiere of Life & Times of Michael K, the Baxter Theatre Centre / Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus puppet theater production adapted from J.M. Coetzee’s 1983 award-winning novel. The show will run November 29-December 23.
South African director Lara Foot adapted the novel in collaboration with the Tony Award-winning Handspring Puppet Company (War Horse).
Life & Times of Michael K is about a simple man who embarks on a journey through South Africa, ravaged by civil war, to return his mother to die on the farm where she was born. The production combines dance, film, and music as Michael treks across an unforgiving landscape and becomes a metaphor for the earth itself.
The rest of the creative team is set designer Patrick Curtis, original music composer Kyle Shepherd, lighting designer Joshua Cutts, directors of photography and film Fiona McPherson and Barrett de Kock, videographer and editor Yoav Dagan, projection designer Kirsti Cumming, costume designer Phyllis Midlane, and sound designer Simon Kohler.
The cast features nine South African performers led by puppet master Craig Leo with puppeteers Roshina Ratnam and Markus Schabbing and actors Sandra Prinsloo, Andrew Buckland/ Wessel Pretorius, Faniswa Yisa, Carlo Daniels, Billy Langa, and Nolufefe Ntshuntshe.
photos by Richard Termine