2008 Woodie Awards
Misjudging Kafka
And his Jewishness too!
Menachem Wecker
Issue date: 2/15/05 Section: Arts & Culture
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The Trial, by Franz Kafka
By Andre Gide and Jean-Louis Barrault
Ran through January 9, 2005
The Phoenix Theater Ensemble
Mint Space, 311 West 43rd Street
http://www.phoenixtheatreensemble.org
The playwright who approaches Franz Kafka's (1883-1924) "The Trial" finds him/herself both quite lucky as well as downright confounded. Kafka the writer can hardly help but inculcate his novel with a very articulate set and costume design, and the chapter breaks in "Trial" double as scene changes. He seems to almost have intended his novel for the stage. But Kafka the dramatic meteorologist proves far less accessible; "Trial"- which follows banker Josef K. from his inexplicable arrest through a network of inept legal bureaucracy and ultimately his capital sentence - could wiggle with equal ease into a Theater of the Absurd theatrical temperature, a mystery novel or a tragic comedy. The temperature could opt for the comic or the tragic depending on the reader's preferences. In fact, Joseph K. has something of Beckett's Godot in him: he waits, he -and ultimately Kafka delights in leaving the reader in the dark even at the very final moment - is wholly unsure of his fate every step of the way and his conversation, or I should say lack of communication, with every other character recalls the miscommunication of Beckett's Estragon and Vladimir. The reader is tempted to read "Trial" as an Absurdist statement of utter meaninglessness and chaos, though Kafka has a keener eye for the intricate sociological workings of jurisprudence than Beckett or Jarry. Somehow, though, Kafka resists the tag Absurdist; the reader seems firmly convinced that Wenceslas, no matter how he played his cards, could hardly escape the tyranny of Ubu, and Godot is nowhere to be found no matter how hard Estragon and Vladimir look. Josef K., though, invites the reader to imagine what-ifs, much like mystery role playing novels, where readers turn to different pages creating their own narrative based on certain role-playing decisions.
By Andre Gide and Jean-Louis Barrault
Ran through January 9, 2005
The Phoenix Theater Ensemble
Mint Space, 311 West 43rd Street
http://www.phoenixtheatreensemble.org
The playwright who approaches Franz Kafka's (1883-1924) "The Trial" finds him/herself both quite lucky as well as downright confounded. Kafka the writer can hardly help but inculcate his novel with a very articulate set and costume design, and the chapter breaks in "Trial" double as scene changes. He seems to almost have intended his novel for the stage. But Kafka the dramatic meteorologist proves far less accessible; "Trial"- which follows banker Josef K. from his inexplicable arrest through a network of inept legal bureaucracy and ultimately his capital sentence - could wiggle with equal ease into a Theater of the Absurd theatrical temperature, a mystery novel or a tragic comedy. The temperature could opt for the comic or the tragic depending on the reader's preferences. In fact, Joseph K. has something of Beckett's Godot in him: he waits, he -and ultimately Kafka delights in leaving the reader in the dark even at the very final moment - is wholly unsure of his fate every step of the way and his conversation, or I should say lack of communication, with every other character recalls the miscommunication of Beckett's Estragon and Vladimir. The reader is tempted to read "Trial" as an Absurdist statement of utter meaninglessness and chaos, though Kafka has a keener eye for the intricate sociological workings of jurisprudence than Beckett or Jarry. Somehow, though, Kafka resists the tag Absurdist; the reader seems firmly convinced that Wenceslas, no matter how he played his cards, could hardly escape the tyranny of Ubu, and Godot is nowhere to be found no matter how hard Estragon and Vladimir look. Josef K., though, invites the reader to imagine what-ifs, much like mystery role playing novels, where readers turn to different pages creating their own narrative based on certain role-playing decisions.
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