THEATRE: THE TRIAL
Before he prematurely passed away from tuberculosis, Kafka exhorted his friend Max Brod to burn everything he had written, unread. Luckily for us, Brod turned out to be a disloyal friend. The Trial is one of the Bohemia-born writer’s masterworks. It sets up the prototypal Kafka-esque world of imprisonment, paranoia and absurdity, into which a hapless hero stumbles. Josef K (Ewen Leslie) wakes up on the morning of his 30th birthday, and before he has even had breakfast, is arrested by two stooges for an undisclosed offence. Henceforth, he is trapped in a spiralling system of illogicality, governed by judges, lawyers, wily women, workmates, and perhaps most crucially, himself. This production by Perth-based company ThinIce really drills home the duplicities at play; a rotating stage off-sets the audience’s vertigo; one character will suddenly become another with the switch of a wig; the jocks-and-socks outfit donned by Josef in the opening scene is later cloned by others. While sometimes the constant action becomes a little clumsy – lamps knocked over in exuberance – overall it works. Leslie, of course, is stellar – just what you’d expect from a Helpmann Award-winning actor – but the female supports in particular (Rita Kalnejais and Belinda McClory) are also strong. And ultimately, Kafka’s critique of liberal-democracy chimes as true today as then. You are left feeling both complicit and compassionate; after all, as Kafka himself said, “It is often safer to be in chains than to be free.”
Until Oct 16, Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre Company, Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay, $30-70, 9250 1777, sydneytheatre.com.au
