Life and Times of Michael K

Life and Times of Michael K is a novel by Nobel prize winner J.M. Coetzee

Also called Life & Times of Michael K by some sources.

The original text

The novel tells the story of a simple man who embarks on a journey through a South Africa, shattered by civil war, to return his mother to die on the farm where she was born.

Translations and adaptations

Adapted for the stage by Lara Foot, in collaboration with the Handspring Puppet Company, and three years in the making, it is a multi-layered theatrical staging which combines puppetry, performance, film and evocative music.

The play was developed as a co-production between the Handspring Puppet Company and Theater der Welt Düsseldorf 2021, the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, the Baxter Theatre Centre and Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg

The production

The creative team on the production consisted of Lara Foot (adaptor, writer, director), the Handspring Puppet Company's crew of adaptors, puppet directors, design and makers, including Patrick Curtis (set design) Kyle Shepherd (original music composition), Joshua Cutts (lighting), Fiona McPherson and Barrett de Kock (directors of photography and film), Yoav Dagan (videography and editing), Kirsti Cumming (projection design), Phyllis Midlane (costumes) and Simon Kohler (sound design). The cast included Sandra Prinsloo, Andrew Buckland, Faniswa Yisa, Craig Leo, Roshina Ratnam, Carlo Daniels, Marty Kintu, Billy Langa and Nolufefe Ntshuntshe.

Performance history in South Africa and abroad

2021: Life & Times of Michael K opened at The Baxter Theatre in June , but was cancelled on the day of the first preview, due to two positive COVID cases and debilitating regulations.

2021: The play was then shown at the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, in Germany in November, receiving seven curtain calls and a standing ovation.

2022: Life & Times of Michael K (like Kiss of the Spider Woman) was rescheduled for production, playing at The Baxter from 28 February to 19 March.

2023: Performed once more at the Baxter Theatre Complex (in the Pam Golding Theatre), winning the Fleur du Cap Award as best production. Next it played at the Edinburgh Festival, where it won the Fringe First Award for innovation and fine writing and thereafter transferred to St Ann's Warehouse in New York (29 November to 23 December).