Walter Meierjohann follows his critically acclaimed production of The Funfair with a revival of a production which has been seen across the world, in cities such as New York , Paris, Tokyo, Athens, and Sydney.
Brutally imprisoned and desperate to escape, the ape-man reveals his rise through the ranks of the beasts to become a master of the ‘civilised world’, a walking, talking, spitting, smoking, hard-drinking man of the stage.
A Report to an Academy, the story from which Kafka’s Monkey is derived, is reminiscent of the author’s Metamorphosis, in which a man transforms himself into a beetle.
It is quintessential Franz Kafka; a grotesque, brilliant mixture of absurdity and pain.
Kafka’s Monkey, described by The Times as “a remarkable spectacle,” and “a show that resonates powerfully in the memory,” by The Daily Telegraph, explores the struggle to belong while remaining forever on the outside, a theme with powerful contemporary relevance in our world of cultural and political migrancy.
Writer Colin Teevan’s adaptation, first seen at the Young Vic in London in March 2009 and again in 2011, reveals a world in which humans seem ape-like, and apes humane.
“I am delighted to be able to give audiences in the north of England the chance to see Kafka’s Monkey,” says Walter Meierjohann. “The response worldwide to Kathryn’s astonishing performance was truly gratifying, and it is productions such as this which define HOME’s artistic approach and ambitions.
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Kathryn Hunter, who was an artistic associate of the Royal Shakespeare Company where she directed Othello in 2009, won an Olivier Award for The Visit, at the National Theatre in 1991. She was a founding member of Complicité, has recently appeared in Playing Cards: Hearts by Robert Lepage, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Puck, directed by Julie Taymor for New York’s Theatre for a New Audience.
She has also appeared in films including Mike Leigh’s All or Nothing, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
Kafka’s Monkey is designed by Steffi Wurster, its costume designer is Richard Hudson, its composer and sound designer is Nikola Kodjabashia – who collaborated with Walter Meierjohann on HOME’s Manchester Theatre Award- winning production of Romeo & Juliet in autumn 2004 – and its movement director is Ilan Reichel.
Kafka’s Monkey runs Wednesday 17 – Saturday 27 June 2015. More information available at http://homemcr.org/production/kafkas-monkey
