‘Life and Times of Michael K’ is back at The Baxter

Theatre lovers, take note. The popular, award-winning Life and Times of Michael K is back at The Baxter Theatre this July – but hurry, it’s for a limited time only.

The 1983 novel was written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Maxwell (JM) Coetzee and adapted for stage by artistic director, Lara Foot, in collaboration with the Tony Award winning Handstring Puppet Company. The production will be showing in The Baxter’s Pam Golding Theatre from 5 to 15 July.

Following the show’s success in 2022, this short run is back by popular demand before the production jets off on an international tour to the Galway Festival in Ireland in July and the prestigious Edinburgh Festival in Scotland in August.

A multi-layer theoretical staging

The stage production is based on Coetzee’s multi-award-winning novel, which explores the story of a man named Michael K who makes an arduous journey from Cape Town to his mother’s rural birthplace so that she could die where she was born. The story is set during a fictious civil war, and during his voyage, Michael K is said to find strength in his own humanity, his profound connection to the earth, and his unique path, which as it unfolds, reveals his reason for living.

The production cast comprises several University of Cape Town (UCT) alumni, including the Handstring Puppet Company (founded by Adrian Kohler and Basil Jones) and Faniswa Yisa.

The production has been described as the Baxter’s largest and “most illustrious” undertaking of the decade. The world premiere was live streamed from The Baxter to Dusseldorf in Germany. And in November 2021 and 2022, the company travelled to that country to perform live for the first time. Life and Times of Michael K also received the 2023 Fleur du Cap Theatre Award for Best Production and Best Puppetry Design; as well as other notable nominations for best lighting design; best costume design; best performance by an ensemble; best sound design, original music; and best soundscape or live performance.

This multi-layer theoretical staging combines puppetry, performance, film and evocative music, gives life to Coetzee’s Booker prize-winning novel and joins some of South Africa’s most revered multi-award-wining artists and creatives on one stage.

“Life and Times of Michael K” will run from Monday to Friday at 19:00 and for a Saturday matinee at 14:00. Book online via webtickets or at Pick n Pay stores.