Interview: Adrian Kohler’s Continually Bringing Life to the LIFE & TIMES OF MICHAEL K

The Tony Award-winning Handspring Puppet Company teams up with the Baxter Theatre Centre to present Life & Times of Michael K opening November 21, 2024, at The Wallis. CEO and artistic director of the Baxter Theatre Centre Lara Foot directs the cast of Susan Danford, Andrew Buckland, Faniswa Yisa, Roshina Ratnam, Carlo Daniels, Markus Schabbing, Billy Langa, Marty Kintu, Nolufefe Ntshuntshe and puppet master Craig Leo. I managed to get one of Handspring Puppet Company’s co-founders Adrian Kohler to answer a few of my queries.
Thank you for taking the time for this interview, Adrian.

Life & Times of Michael K is the culmination of more than two years of planning.  What cosmic forces initially brought you together Lara Foot and the Baxter Theatre Centre?

Thirty years ago, we had the great honor of devising a new show with the legendary South African director, Barney Simon. Lara Foot had just graduated from drama school and worked as Barney’s Assistant Stage Manager. We got on terribly well with her and vowed to do something together one day. This - finally - is the day!

Is this the first time you have collaborated with Lara Foot and Baxter Theatre? 

The Baxter Theatre is our mother theatre. We’ve been performing there since 1982, but yes, this is the first time with Lara.

Are there any more collaborations with Baxter Theatre in the works? 

Indeed, we are doing Faustus in Africa!, directed by William Kentridge and Lara Foot. It premieres at The Baxter Theatre on March 1,2025, before going on to festivals across Europe in the autumn of that year.

You’ll have five performances of Life & Times of Michael K at The Wallis.  Do you know how this and other American engagements have come about?

The Baxter’s U.S. agent, Emberley Productions, was and is responsible for the American tours and they are set up through them.

Where else will Life & Times of Michael K be performed?

In 2025 the following tours are currently lined up: The Chicago Puppet Festival (January) Arts Emerson, Boston, (February) and The Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa (March).

What aspects of Life & Times of Michael K aligned with Handspring’s philosophy?

We are great admirers of Michael’s gentleness which, in a strangely alchemical way, melds with an adamantine determination to be his own person. He sees himself as essentially a farmer who believes that even in a war, farming must continue. We feel the same about the Arts.

What future productions are planned for Handspring?

I’ve already mentioned Faustus in Africa! Little Amal the 12ft-high child refugee puppet continues The Walk, a journey across the world with an incredible 2,600-mile odyssey across Chile with the Fundación Internacional Teatro a Mil! from January 3rd to January 25th.

And War Horse will continue touring to theatres throughout the UK and Ireland during 2025.

The Wallis was one of the participants with Little Amal.   Can you tell us anything about Amal’s reception in Los Angeles? The Wallis event was with Debbie Allen and took place in Beverly Hills on November 3rd.

Los Angeles was one of Amal’s most diverse experiences. Her encounters ran the gamut of the different communities that are to be found there.  She was welcomed to El Pueblo, the historic birthplace of L.A. She was surrounded by the vivid colors and sounds of Dia de Los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. She encountered Deaf West Theatre Company bridging the hearing and deaf worlds and she became both the trick and the treat in a community Halloween event. This city, so close to the Mexican border, had a very special resonance for Amal.

Life & Times of Michael K was one of many sidelined by the pandemic. Your world premiere was first live streamed before performing live in Germany in November 2021. What kind of response did you get from your livestream?

Tumultuous. It was quite a unique experience for many Germans. Imagine entering a theatre in Düsseldorf to watch – on an enormous screen – a live premiere performance intended FOR YOU from a group of artists at the southern tip of Africa. This had never happened before. It was one of the many uniquely positive surprises that COVID brought us.

What about the audience response performing live after returning from Covid most surprised you?

The joy of audiences sitting next to each other once again in public was thrilling. A great relief after many months of isolation and loneliness.  We were reminded that that the pleasure of watching theatre with a group is one of the reasons why live theatre survives.

How big is your combined cast for Life & Times of Michael K?

The cast is made up of nine artists – five actors and four puppeteers.

Could you sum up in three lines what Life & Times of Michael K is about?

Life & Times of Michael K is a loose weave of themes. It moves from the horror of a city in a time of civil war into the tranquility of the African countryside. Inside of this journey, there is the intensity of a mother-son relationship, and Michael’s choices, about political commitment, and self-acceptance. These themes are intensified by the appropriateness of a puppet as a medium through which to tell Coetzee’s story. A puppet who is manipulated by outside forces, but ultimately insists on being his own person. This struggle for self-respect is somehow most powerfully and poetically told by a frail and vulnerable wooden man. 

Thank you again, Adrian! I look forward to seeing Michael K.

For tickets for Life & Times if Michael K through November 24, 2024; click on the button below:

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