'Triggering' and 'Realistic': Life and Times of Michael K grips with sadness and pondering questions

Markus Schabbing, Billy Langa, Nolufefe Ntshuntshe, Susan Danford, Faniswa Yisa, Craig Leo, Carlo Daniels. Picture: Suzy Bernstein

There is no other way to describe the theatre production of the Life and Times of Michael K other than that it’s a tragedy. It’s a haunting story that has no happy ending but is sad from the beginning to the end. 

The protagonist faces a series of challenges and has to constantly fight for survival until he gives up on the will to live. 

Adapted from the 1983 novel of the same title by a Nobel-winning South African author, J.M Coetzee, Life and Times of Michael K follows the story of a young man who, on the backdrop of a civil war in apartheid South Africa, sets out from Cape Town to return his sick mother back to her birthplace in Prince Alfred in the Eastern Cape. 

Born with a cleft palate, Michael K has always felt like an outsider, ostracised by a society that values conformity and beauty over individuality. His existence as a gardener in the shadows of Cape Town embodies a painful solitude. Though he lives in the city, he’s literally obscured, lives in the shadows, and generally keeps to himself because his self-esteem took a knock the day he was born because of his cleft lip.  

Upon finding out that he cannot obtain the proper permits for travel out of the city, Michael K builds a shoddy rickshaw out of a shopping trolley to carry his mother. They travel hundreds of kilometres for many days, but soon his mother’s illness worsens and she eventually dies after being admitted to the hospital. Michael K is thus left to face life on his own from that moment since the only person who meant anything in his life had now been taken away.

But a spirit of resilience takes over Michael K, and he decides he will continue with the journey to Prince Alfred in order to throw his mother’s ashes on the farm she kept telling him about as the place where she grew up. Along the way, though, he is detained for not having the required travel papers, thus being assigned to work detail on a railway track.

This is the story that jumped from Coetzee’s pages, adapted and directed by Lara Foot onto stage at the Barney Simon Theatre, which was packed to the rafters on the opening night on Friday at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg. 

Foot's vision cleverly employs puppetry to evoke an emotional connection with the audience. The choice to make puppets the main characters—including Michael K and his mother and a couple of children that he meets on the way to the farm in Prince Alfred —underscores the fragility of human dignity amidst struggle. The assembled cast of 10 does not simply support the puppets but humanises them through skilful narration, leaving the audience mesmerised.

This is where I take my hat off to the Tony Award-winning Handspring Puppet Company and the puppet masters because they managed to humanise the puppets so much that one audience member behind me said: “This is triggering”. 

Amid the show, one gets engrossed so much in puppetry that you even forget that it’s the puppets that are acting out the storyline because the actors are well-equipped to humanise them with skilful and fast-paced narration. When the show was over and the audience was walking out, it was then that one audience member, speaking to his friend about the puppets, exclaimed: “It was so realistic”.

Andrew Buckland, Craig Leo, Markus Schabbing, Michael K, Cralo Daniels. Picture: Fiona McPherson 

Fortunately, the stage of the Barney Simon Theatre is big enough to accommodate the large complement of actors, complete with their many props, including a windmill and hospital bed, among others. 

The performance’s monumental scope is adequately matched by the resonance of Coetzee’s prose, which Foot acknowledges as a rich tapestry of metaphorical layers. 

 

“Michael K is a prophet of our times, whom I am certain will go down in theatre history as a significant icon. The beauty of JM Coetzee’s work is the layer upon layer of metaphor, poetry and meaning, which lends itself beautifully to a multi-disciplinary style of theatre, combining puppetry, film, literature, live performance, movement, sound and music,” remarks Foot.

 

“Coetzee has chosen an inimitable everyman as his protagonist in Michael K, an outsider, ostracised not for his social or political circumstances, but because of his disfigurement. However, Michael K has the unique ability to find his version of complete freedom; he will not prescribe to servitude, nor politics, and chooses to stay out of any of the camps.”

Faniswa Yisa, Billy Langa, Craig Leo, Carlo Daniels, Sandra Prinsloo, Andrew Buckland. Picture: Fiona McPherson

Despite personal critiques of Coetzee’s often complex themes such as in his novels Waiting for the Barbarians to Disgrace, one cannot ignore the brilliance inherent in the Life and Times of Michael K, Coetzee chooses to tackle very complex and problematic human nature subjects with not so much a fascinating story to tell but a gripping examination of dull everyday life that would otherwise not have an interesting tale to warrant a book. But that is the skill and capability of the author he is, and what sets him apart from the rest of his peers.

The production compels readers to confront the often-overlooked lives of societal outcasts. Michael K's narrative forces an examination of what it means to exist within the margins, exposing profound truths about isolation, loss, and the quest for spiritual connection.

Audience members left the theatre with heavy hearts and profound reflections on the intricacies of human existence as a result of Foot’s evocative direction.

The production of the Life and Times of Michael K serves as a stirring reminder of the resilience of the human spirit, extending an invitation to delve deeper into the complex layers of individual experiences in the world.

The limited three-week run starts 27 March and runs until 13 April 2025. Tickets are available via Webtickets, with a reduced-price preview all Wednesday performances at half-price.