Kafka: The Trial

The Czech National Ballet includes in its repertoire a production inspired by a Kafka novel that is an indisputable facet of the Prague milieu.

In the dark of sleep, a door opens and a woman enters dressed in sheets of paper, symbolizing the fate and the trial that will rage against the protagonist…

Thus is the incipit of The Trial, a ballet by the distinguished Italian choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti, who has been loosely inspired by Franz Kafka’s eponymous 1914 literary masterpiece – its fascinating language, traumatizing plot and still valid message.

The modern production, abounding in dramatic twists and turns, reproduces the story of Josef K., who wakes up on his 30th birthday and finds beside his bed three police agents who want to arrest him for reasons that he doesn’t understand. The disoriented and incredulous protagonist is subsequently carried into a judicial machinery that drags him into a whirl of weird events.

Approximate running time: 1 hour 25 minutes, no intermission

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