Where: Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, 410 Brockley Road, London SE4 2DH
£: 12 (10 concessions)
What is it?
At the age of 36, Franz Kafka was driven to write a letter to the father that he feared, addressing his harsh and authoritarian treatment of his son and the humiliations he inflicted on him. The resulting letter, over 100 pages long, was read by his sister and his mother, but not one word was read by his father.
“Dearest Father, recently you asked me why I maintain that I’m afraid of you. And, as usual, I didn’t know how to answer. It was due to my fear of you. And because my fear rests on so many details that I couldn’t even have discussed half of it.”
Based on playwright Howard Coyler’s own critically acclaimed translation of Letter to My Father, Kafka v Kafka is a moving work about the struggle to communicate. Directed by Leigh Tredger and set in the imagination of Franz Kafka, the play is a retelling of his childhood trials and traumas; as much a self-accusation as an accusation against his father and as much self-examination as cross-examination.
Howard Colyer is a playwright and novelist. His most recent productions include The Overcoat, which had a sell-out run at the Brockley Jack, Conference Call, which was selected for LOST Theatre’s One Act Play Festival, and Homework, which appeared at the Brockley Jack in November.
More info: www.brockleyjack.co.uk