'Life & Times of Michael K' is a moving odyssey at ArtsEmerson

Finding purpose and peace amid war and loss is difficult. In ArtsEmerson’s production of “Life & Times of Michael K” — from South Africa’s Baxter Theatre and Germany’s Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus — the violence inspires a young man to embark on a perilous journey and find hope and a reason for living along the way.

In the show, the title character Michael, who was born with a facial disfigurement, plans to leave the political unrest of his fictional South African town behind and head to his mother’s rural homeland. She’s unwell, and Michael wants her to see her childhood residence in Prince Albert once more before she dies. Armed with a handmade cart, supplies and his mom as the passenger, the two set off on foot.

The story is an adaptation of South African writer J. M. Coetzee’s 1983 Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, published during apartheid. Coetzee started writing fiction in 1969, spent time in the U.S. teaching at Johns Hopkins University, Harvard University and Stanford University, and won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003.

The onstage narrative, written by Lara Foot, features marionettes from Handspring Puppet Company and a talented cast that portrays Michael at different stages of his life and other characters the audience meets along the way. Though it doesn’t take long for Michael and his mom to start their pilgrimage, overall, the pacing of the theatrical voyage is markedly slow (particularly in the first act) and lacks emotional resonance for this theatergoer.

In the second act, there’s more to see and absorb. Michael and his mom face tribulations, some of which are devasting, but there are also some tender moments. There’s a sweet encounter with a young girl on the road, a moment of kindness from a mother who soon experiences her own loss, and later, Michael’s love of gardening becomes a source of hope. For Michael, planting seeds and watching them grow, especially in an existence rife with war and intimidating soldiers, is meaningful and healing.

Some of the show’s most stunning moments are gorgeous projections set to moody music,  courtesy of lighting and sound designers Joshua Cutts and Simon Kohler, respectively, along with sound system designer David Claassen and projection designer and editor Yoav Dagan. These elements depict Michael in a flourishing garden of fluttering pumpkin leaves or show him taking steps on his voyage as a train goes by on a screen behind the actors and puppeteers.

While this trek of Michael’s didn’t spark as visceral a response as I hoped it would, the magical puppetry work with close-ups on the large screen onstage was undeniably lovely. I appreciate ArtsEmerson — a contemporary presenter of world theater — for its refreshing risk-taking, like with 2022’s “DrumFolk” and last year’s “Moby Dick” and “Mrs. Krishnan’s Party.” The productions inspire a sense of wonder and shared perspective not often seen.

So, in those ways, perhaps Michael K’s odyssey delivers.

“Life & Times of Michael K” runs through Feb. 9 at ArtsEmerson.