Galway International Arts Festival is renowned for presenting and producing great theatre and this year it presents its biggest theatre and dance programme ever.
This July the line up includes an unmissable production from South Africa’s Baxter Theatre and Tony Award-winning Handspring Puppet Company, who present a hugely ambitious theatrical staging of Nobel Prize-winning author J.M. Coetzee’s novel, Life & Times of Michael K .
Epic in scale, the production is a multi-layered theatrical staging which combines puppetry, film and evocative music, bringing to life Coetzee’s Booker Prize-winning novel, together with some of South Africa’s most revered, multi-award-winning artists.
The Tony Award-winning Handspring Puppet Company are best known for creating the spectacular puppets in the West End and Broadway productions of War Horse and, more recently, Little Amal, the puppet refugee who has walked across Europe.
This visually spectacular production recently won the South African Fleur du Cap Best Production Award.
‘A brilliant adaption … a spectacular evening of theatre’
Frankfurter Algemeine Zeitung
The hauntingly beautiful story follows Michael K, a simple man who embarks on a journey through South Africa, ravaged by civil war, to return his mother to die on the farm, where she was born. He finds strength in his own humanity, his profound connection to the earth and his unique path, which, as it unfolds, reveals to him his reason for living.
Director Lara Foot said,
“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. It has been a privilege for me to work with this company on this complex and immersive production, and I consider the directing and creating of Michael K, in collaboration with the Handspring Puppet Company, as the highlight of my career thus far.”
Basil Jones of Handspring Puppet Company said,
“Creating Michael K and presenting his life has led us into the very heart of what puppets are, what they can and can’t do. We have taken risks and challenged some of the ‘principles of puppetry’ that we’ve developed over the course of our career.”
Galway International Arts Festival Artistic Director Paul Fahy said,
"Sometimes you are lucky enough to see a true collaboration between artists that really takes your breath away. Life & Times of Michael K is one of those extraordinary experiences I will never forget seeing. The show is simply beautiful with fantastic performances, projections which are epic in scale, puppetry manipulated with incredible skill, and storytelling that cuts straight to the heart. Lara Foot is one of the most insightful and visionary directors working in the theatre today while Hand Spring’s artistry continues to wow audiences around the world with their work on this production in addition to the brilliance of their work with War Horse and Little Amal. We are thrilled to have such an amazing production come to Galway as part of the Festival."
Dates / times: 25–30 July, 7pm
Matinees Thursday 27 and Saturday 29 July, 2pm
Black Box Theatre, Galway
Tickets: €25-€35
Galway International Arts Festival would like to acknowledge the support of its principal funding agencies the Arts Council and Fáilte Ireland; its Drinks Partner Heineken; and Education Partner University of Galway.
