The critically acclaimed one-man show Kafka, adapted, scripted and performed by Jack Klaff, will receive its first production in London in over 30 years at the multi- award-winning Finborough Theatre, for a four week limited season.
Kafka was buried in Prague on 11 June 1924, and this production opens at Finborough Theatre 100 years later to the day on Tuesday, 11 June 2024.
Kafka is a one person show about a genius who loved one person shows This work, Kafka, is the theatrical event of Kafka’s centenary year.
You’re bringing Kafka to Finborough Theatre, what can you tell us about the show?
Franz Kafka loved one man shows. Inspired by this I created an 80- minute solo work which features an array of indelible characters, drawing on all of Kafka’s works.
I also impersonate a star-studded cast of Kafka’s friends, lovers, fans and commentators, including Alan Bennett, Anthony Perkins, Orson Welles, Melvyn Bragg, Ben E King, Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett, Albert Einstein and many others. It’s a bracing, off-kilter, always-surprising show that recreates the life, work and times of a unique human being who had a unique mind.
What first inspired you to start working on this show?
It was initially commissioned by the Cheltenham Literary Festival. After a little research I discovered that Franz Kafka loved one person shows. So, to begin with I was inspired by the fact that Kafka himself was inspired and influenced by performance and theatricality, by Metamorphosis, Transformation, by movement and gesture, by hearing his words spoken out loud and by the laughter and the hilarity which greeted his own readings of his own works. I’ve been doing the show for as long as Kafka lived and I’ve never tired of it. An inspiring writer. An inspiring man.
It’s returning to London for the first time in over 30 years, why is now the right time to bring it back?
We are commemorating the 100th anniversary of Franz Kafka’s death. Kafka died on the 3rd of June 1924; he was buried on the 11th of June. Our first preview takes place on the 11th of June 2024.
This is the perfect time for the show for other reasons too. In Kafka we have before us the modern mind. And Franz Kafka is still the presiding genius of present-day storytelling. But because of the recent publication of Kafka’s diaries, because of new translations, because of wider and deeper research, the way we’ve come to view the man and his works now has radically changed.
It is important, bracing, and delightful to experience a fresh, different, more human, more believable and far more fascinating Franz Kafka. It is also endlessly remarkable to see and feel how prescient the man was.
Was he a writer of fiction or a reporter of genius? Are we living now to prove Franz Kafka right? And there’s one other thing. Of late I have encountered so many works in all media that have not been bad by any means, but they’ve been hyped to the skies. It’s worth appreciating the outpourings of someone who is really, truly great. It’s always the right time for greatness, isn’t it?
You also perform in Kafka, what do you enjoy most about performing this role?
A different audience every night. Their reactions. Their involvement. The way they fall in love with Franz Kafka all over again. I’ll gently say that I don’t enjoy playing just ‘this role’. In the show I play countless roles. And I love the way this piece has developed over time. The world is awash with solo shows. And good luck to them all. Too often though, solo performers are saying, ‘Look at me’. I hope I’m saying, ‘Look at this’. At every moment I embody Kafka’s lifelong struggle between intimacy and solitude.
Kafka is still the presiding genius of present-day storytelling. This enhances the enjoyment. So does the fact that in Kafka we have before us the human mind. And I as the solo artist represent the universal humanity of that alienated artist who toiled on his own.
And what do you think will be the biggest challenge?
Not to burst into flames with excitement.
What would you say to anyone thinking of booking to see Kafka?
Don’t hesitate. Do it now. Don’t just think about it. Do it. I can’t wait for you to have this experience. One of Kafka’s lovers rightly said of him, ‘His books are amazing. He himself is even more amazing’
