Theatre Reviews // The Life & Times of Michael K at the Emerson Paramount
Theatre Reviews // The Life & Times of Michael K at the Emerson Paramount

Theatre Reviews // The Life & Times of Michael K at the Emerson Paramount

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The Life & Times of Michael K is a moving and heartfelt show playing at the Emerson Paramount Center from Jan 31st to Feb 9th. It is a puppet show, but much like recent puppet experiences in greater Boston such as The Book of Mountain and Seas and Little Amal Walks Across America at the Emerson, and the A.R.T.’s upcoming Odyssey– these aren’t the felt puppets with googly eyes the term may conjure. In the Life & Times of Michael K. they are beautifully carved, evocative wooden figures that look like smaller people, birds that “fly” with their wings flapping at the tip of sticks, and even leaves “blowing” upon the wind. The puppet of Michael has 3 puppeteers—one who does his voice and two who operate his head and limbs in an intricate dance that brings the creation and the story of Michael to life.

Michael K is a “simple” (fictional) young man born with a cleft lip which causes people to have strong reactions to him, growing up in South Africa during apartheid and a fictitious civil war in institutions he pours himself into his work as a gardener. It is based on a novel of the same name by J.M. Coetzee which won the Booker Prize in 1983. Michael quits his job and goes on a journey from Cape Town to take his mother to safety to her hometown of Prince Albert in a wheelbarrow contraption that he has cobbled together and pushes cross country. He faces many obstacles on his journey including racism, ableism, goats, thieves, hunger, checkpoints, soldiers, and he manages to maintain his humanity to the end despite all of these challenges.

The stage design was ingenious with one scene that took place in a raging river that was staged by lighting changes, and having stagehands hold up pieces of furniture to act as the boulders in the swirling water. It truly tests the limits of what can be achieved with puppets and was so realistic and immersive that the audience forgot for a moment that they were watching a puppet show. The woman next to me in the theater openly wept at some of the more somber scenes and the audience laughed throughout the play which maintained its sense of humor even through incredibly grim circumstances. This play walked a fine line between watching someone experience hardship and engaging in torture porn, but it mostly managed to keep the character of Michael as someone the audience could support from their seats.

This remarkable piece of theater was adapted and directed by Lara Foot in collaboration with Handspring Puppet Company. They were last seen in Boston with the 11-foot-tall puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee child that was starting her journey in Boston to “walk across America” on her journey around the world. Michael K and Little Amal share one of the excellent puppeteers. The puppeteers in this show cannot be praised enough. They brought this sculpture of wood and frame to life in a way that can hardly be described. You can feel each breath that Michael takes, and his carved face somehow takes on varied expressions. The play also used projections onto the back wall to enhance the show and I couldn’t figure out how they depicted the puppet moving around unaided by puppeteers, it was real theater magic.

The cast was brilliant without a single obvious misstep or missed line. They worked together seamlessly to bring these puppets and the story of Michael K to life, leaving a lasting impression on the audience with their tale about human dignity and grief.
It left me looking forward to seeing more puppet shows in the future—the medium is so ripe for creativity and invention. It’s a real pleasure to see such cutting-edge theater in Boston.


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