January 23, 2025 | Uncategorized,

Meet the Cast of Life & Times of Michael K

Adapted by Lara Foot, Life & Times of Michael K has received multiple accolades and the Scotsman Fringe First Award. The performance is comprised of the cast, crew creative team and puppeteers. It will be at the Emerson Paramount Center from JAN 31—FEB 09.

Foot is the CEO and Artistic Director of the Baxter Theatre Centre and has directed over 70 productions, focusing on South African theater. Her awards include the Fleur du Cap and Naledi Awards. Handspring Puppet Company, co-founders Basil J.R. Jones and Adrian Kohler—who are world renowned puppeteers—are the puppetry director and puppetry director in design and creation for the show, respectively.

Jones is recognized for his innovative puppetry theories and has received numerous accolades, including honorary degrees from UCT and the University of Toronto. Kohler has designed iconic puppets for War Horse, The Chimp Project, and Tall Horse. His work has earned numerous awards, including a Special Tony Award for War Horse and honorary degrees from UCT and the University of Toronto. Roshina Ratnam and Markus Schabbing are the puppeteers for Life & Times of Michael K. Also involved in this show is Craig Leo, who is the puppetry director/puppeteer for Walk with Amal, which came to Emerson in the Fall of 2024. He is a distinguished South African theater designer, puppeteer, and performing artist.

CAST BIOS

ANDREW BUCKLAND (Actor) embarked on his theatrical journey in 1974, evolving into a renowned actor and theater maker. His career spans diverse roles in theater, film, and television, earning three Fringe First Awards and acclaim for his portrayal of Sgt Pepper in Cirque du Soleil’s LOVE (2008/2009). Buckland is celebrated for innovative works like The Ugly Noo Noo and Bloodstream, and has won numerous awards, including the Standard Bank Young Artist Award in 1986. He served as Associate Professor Emeritus at the University Currently Known as Rhodes until 2017. Recent performances include Hold Still, Oedipus at Colonus, and Life and Times of Michael K.

SANDRA PRINSLOO (Actor) Sandra Prinsloo’s illustrious career in theatre, film and television spans 50 years, performing female lead roles in over 100 different productions by international dramatists and local playwrights, De Kat magazine named her ‘one of the 100 most influential people in SA’. In Miss Julie (opposite John Kani) in 1985, she received bomb threats and violent assaults as the first South African white actress to appear on stage in love scenes with a black actor. Leading theatre roles include The Merchant of Venice, Othello, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Hamlet, A Winter’s Tale, Hedda Gabler, Siener in die Suburbs, Christine, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, Absurd Person Singular, Night and Day, Miss Julie, People are Living There and Amy’s View. Others include The Road to Mecca (with Marius Weyers), Soebatsfontein and So Ry Miss Daisy (with John Kani). Sandra has directed several plays, including Kopstukke, Frieda Kahlo’s Eyes, Susters van Eva and Stuur groete vir Ma. She was honoured for her Lifetime contribution to theatre by kykNET Fiëstas and received her fifth lifetime achievement award, when the University of Stellenbosch awarded her an Honorary Doctorate degree.

CARLO DANIELS (Actor) is a dynamic physical theater actor, singer, and theater maker from Cape Town. Starting his career performing on street corners in Mitchell’s Plain, Carlo has since collaborated with notable figures like David Kramer and Clowns Without Borders SA. A 2019 Magnet Theatre graduate, Carlo won Best Actor and Best Production at the 2018 Zabalaza Festival for Onweer. His solo play Klippies Van die Grond earned him KKNK’s Kanna Award and Suidoosterfees Best Actor accolades, with further Fleur De Cap nominations in 2019 and 2020. Notable performances include Antigone, Concerning The Life Of Baby Boy Kleintjies, and Life and Times of Michael K. In 2023, he won the Fleur du Cap for Best New Director.

CRAIG LEO (Puppet Master) is a distinguished South African theater designer, puppeteer, and performing artist. His extensive work includes collaborations with Magnet Theatre, Jazzart Dance Theatre, Mothertongue, Janni Younge Productions, and The Handspring Puppet Company. Notable productions include Medea, Bolero, Rain in a Dead Man’s Footprints, and The Firebird. His work with The Handspring Puppet Company features Tall Horse, War Horse, and Life and Times of Michael K. Craig designed and directed puppetry for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the Bridge Theatre, London, and performed in Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Re-Imagined at Shakespeare’s Globe. He is currently the puppetry director/puppeteer for Walk with Amal.

FANISWA YISA (Actor) is a versatile South African actor with a dynamic career in theater, film, and television. A University of Cape Town drama school graduate, she co-created and performed in Beading My Soul, Uhambo, and The Space of Dreams as part of The Mothertongue Project, with a residency in India in 2003. Her extensive stage work includes Madiba Magic, The Suitcase, Missing, The Jungle Book, and Medea. Notable tours include Every Year, Every Day, I Am Walking, which was nominated for Best Foreign Production in Argentina and received Pick of the Festive at the National Arts Festival. Yisa won the Fleur du Cap Best Actress award for What Remains and was joint Best Actress at Aardkloop.

NOLUFEFE NTSHUNTSHE (Actor) is a versatile performer and member of Baxter Theatre’s Fires Burning Company. Her recent work includes Lara Foot’s adaptation of Life and Times of Michael K, which won the Scotsman Fringe Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 2022, she was a Zabalaza mini festival adjudicator and received a Fleur du Cap nomination for her role in the same production. Ntshuntshe has performed in Silindile at the Common Ground International Festival and When We Awake at the Baxter Theatre. She served as assistant director for Koleka Putuma’s Scoop and has toured internationally with productions like Knock and Ekhaya.

BILLY LANGA (Actor) is an award-winning actor, playwright, and educator known for his innovative approach to theater, emphasizing the relationship between the body and the stage. His recent work explores the integration of language and physicality in performance. Langa’s directing credits include Khongolose Khommanding Khommissars, A Place of Knowing, and Just Antigone. As a performer, he has appeared in Tswalo, Salt, and Waiting for Godot. Langa has also contributed to digital platforms like ICA Online Fellowship and the Virtual National Arts Festival. His accolades include the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Theatre (2022) and the Naledi Theatre Award for Best Production for Young Audiences.

ROSHINA RATNAM (Actor/Puppeteer) is a South African performer, puppeteer, theater maker, and audiobook narrator. She recently directed Surge at Magnet Theatre, a climate change-themed puppetry production. As an assistant director and performer, she contributed to Janni Younge’s Hamlet, showcased at the 2023 Chicago International Puppet Festival and Abstrakt Festival in Budapest. Her upcoming projects include puppeteering in Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo in Berlin and participating in Life and Times of Michael K, touring Galway and Edinburgh. Ratnam also narrates over 35 audiobooks, including Children of Sugarcane. Her company, Inala Theatre, won the 2019 Fleur Du Cap for Lumka. She is also head of projects at UNIMA South Africa.

MARKUS SCHABBING (Actor/Puppeteer), born in 1989 in Alhaus, Germany, trained at the Joop van den Ende Academy in Hamburg. He debuted at Landestheatre Schleswig-Holstein and Thalia Theatre’s The Skin of Our Teeth. Schabbing made his London West End debut in War House at the Royal National Theatre and has since appeared in The Addams Family and Hinterm Horizont. He graduated from the Curious School of Puppetry in 2019 and worked with Theatre-Rites on The Incredible Tale of Robot Boy. Notable projects include Life and Times of Michael K, which won the Scotsman Fringe First Award, and Animal Farm. Schabbing is also an illustrator for various theater and media clients.

LARA FOOT (Adaptor, Writer, Director) is a distinguished playwright, director, and producer, currently serving as CEO and Artistic Director of the Baxter Theatre Centre. With a career highlighted by awards and innovation, she has directed over 70 productions, focusing on South African theater. Her acclaimed works include Tshepang, Karoo Moose, The Inconvenience of Wings, and Othello. She has won numerous awards, including Fleur du Cap and Naledi Awards, and has been a Rolex protégé and Sundance Fellow, as well as being honoured with The International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) 2023 International Citation of Merit Recipient award. Her adaptation of JM Coetzee’s Life & Times of Michael K received the Scotsman Fringe First Award and multiple accolades. Foot’s leadership has significantly shaped South African theater’s development and international presence.

BASIL J.R. JONES (Adaptor, Puppetry Director) is a renowned puppeteer, theater maker, and theorist, co-founder of Handspring Puppet Company with Jill Joubert and Jon Weinberg. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from UCT and began his career at the South African Cultural History Museum. In Botswana, he worked with the Medu Arts Ensemble before co-founding Handspring in 1981. Their landmark productions include Woyzeck on the Highveld and War Horse, which has captivated over 7 million people globally. Jones is recognized for his innovative puppetry theories and has received numerous accolades, including honorary degrees from UCT and the University of Toronto.

ADRIAN P. KOHLER (Adaptor, Puppetry Director, Design & Creation) is a distinguished puppetry director, designer, and co-founder of Handspring Puppet Company. With a BA in Fine Art from the University of Cape Town, Kohler honed his craft from a young age under the influence of his amateur puppeteer mother and craftsman father. After running the National Popular Theatre Programme in Botswana and collaborating with the Medu Art Ensemble, he co-founded Handspring in 1981 with Basil Jones, Jill Joubert, and Jon Weinberg. Kohler has designed iconic puppets for War Horse, The Chimp Project, and Tall Horse. His work has earned numerous awards, including a Special Tony Award for War Horse and honorary degrees from UCT and the University of Toronto.