Life & Times of Michael K NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (21)
See it if you loved "War Horse." This is the work of Basil Twist, puppeteer based on an apartheid-era novel.
Don't see it if you can't follow symbolism, inference, and metaphors
See it if Puppets were entrancing. Mini versions were delightful. Voice acting was so well done.
Don't see it if Too long with no intermission. Michael just never gets a break and it's so sad. But it's still an important story that is relatable.
See it if you like artistically breathtaking performances that create an immersive feeling of time and place where borders of puppets and humans blur.
Don't see it if you're looking for a feel good show. This dark play deals with the hardship of human existence, set in times of war, violence & uncertainty.
See it if you are interested in puppetry
Don't see it if can't sit through a long show (I would shorten this one)
See it if you appreciate masterful use of puppetry with compelling design, movement, & voice acting; you're in the mood to engage with weighty themes
Don't see it if you want a short, brisk piece (this is a fairly slow 2 hours/no intermission); you're in the mood for something light or fluffy
See it if You would enjoy an intimate but big hearted tale of a poor but richly-lived life in South Africa (told with expert puppetry).
Don't see it if You would not enjoy an intimate but big hearted tale of a poor but richly-lived life in South Africa (told with expert puppetry). Read more
See it if You like masterful puppetry to tell a compelling story.
Don't see it if You expect fluff in telling a very sad story. Read more
See it if you like puppets and the way they can be used to communicate complex emotions.
Don't see it if you like upbeat theater.
Critic Reviews (7)
CRITIC’S PICK: “It is a radical artistic gesture, given the narrative’s setting, that posits ‘Michael K’ as a symbol of human existence. It’s a timely one, too, to consider the possibility of a connection with one’s homeland that surpasses earthly conflicts.”
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“ ‘Life & Times of Michael K’, now running at St. Ann’s Warehouse, is as sprawling as the Karoo desert its title character must cross...To simplify this narrative and still allow us to project our stories onto Michael’s, he is portrayed as a puppet.”
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“The faces of the three puppeteers animating ‘Michael’ — who also voices the character — are rapt...’Michael’ is the result of their deep craftsmanship and their free self-sublimation. He is the alchemy of their attention and as such, Michael possesses his own indelible integrity.”
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“These not-quite-life-sized characters, so deftly controlled, have an ease of movement and subtlety of expression that the finest actors might envy…If, as I suspect is true of many LSA readers, you are interested in this aspect of stage design, Life and Times of Michael K is unmissable If, however, you expect an involving narrative filled with captivating characters, you might think twice before embarking on Michael K's long journey across a blasted, war-torn South Africa.”
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“...adaptor/director Lara Foot has done the work justice...Like the novel itself, the adaptation doesn’t come furnished with a shapely structure or handy message. Most page-to-stage adaptations simplify. This embodiment of Coetzee’s masterwork leaves the ambiguities of the original intact, affording an experience that’s all the more impactful.”
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“We are carried along on this journey of what we might consider an insignificant man because of the story telling of Coetzee and by the extraordinary tenderness and specificity of these puppeteers. They unfold Michael into existence, and when his time is up they return him whence he came. In between these two milestones Michael floats through life like a person bound to earth by the slenderest of threads. Like I said – it is magic.”
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There is a stunning kind of poetry in the puppetry employed to dramatize Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee’s forty-year-old novel about a simple man who makes an epic journey through the physically and morally depleted landscape of South Africa. Like some of the most evocative poetry, the effect of “Life & Times of Michael K” at St. Ann’s Warehouse is often wondrous even when its exact meaning is not always clear.
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