★★★☆☆
Four Stars
It was in Oxford’s premium baguette outlet, Jimbob’s, that I first noticed an advertisement for the operatic adaptation of Franz Kafka’s renowned modernist novella, The Trial. From the moment I set eyes on Music Theatre Wales’s painstakingly Photoshopped advertisement, lovingly blu-tacked up by Jim, or possibly Bob, I had a few doubts. With Kafka’s typical emphasis on linguistic subtleties and simplicity, surely something of this would be lost, with an orchestra’s competing demands on the audience’s attention. But I thought I’d give it a go.
If anyone were to set The Trial to music, however, it would be Philip Glass, who is no stranger to Kafka, having composed the soundtrack to ACT Theatre’s production of In The Penal Colony in 2000.
The Trial follows the unexplainable predicament of Josef K, a sell-out banking type, who awakes on his 30th birthday, only to be promptly arrested by two unnamed guards, without ever discovering the charge that has been brought against him. What follows is the protagonist’s frustrating and frantic battle with the town’s incomprehensible system of bureaucracy, as well as his adapting to meet the conflicting demands that accompany his newly acquired, yet still unclear, status as criminal. Later told that a ‘genuine acquittal’ is nigh on impossible, Josef seeks help from various court officials, until he finally finds escape in his eventual execution.
The eight member cast was good, although it felt like they were in it for the music, rather than the action. While the idea of flat characterisation is, perhaps, a success; with the novella itself in mind, perhaps a little more dedication to emotion, particularly in Josef’s case, might have supported the slightly lacking drama. Their singing, however, was particularly noteworthy, most significantly during the moments of ensemble.
For me, though, the whole thing was not quite Kafka enough. While modern usage of what’s regarded as ‘Kafkaesque’ seems, nowadays, increasingly gimmicky and artificial, the play could, undoubtedly have done with a bit more. Perhaps the use, throughout the production, of an entirely monochromatic set and costume design felt like enough to tick the box, but there was certainly room for more disorientation and more of the bizarre, without it becoming a caricature.
Does The Trial work as an opera? My answer would be no. Glass’s meandering musical backdrop, from the pit at least, was pleasingly suited to the Kafkian aesthetic, with moments of high tension punctuated by pointed, yet subtle enough percussive stabs. On the other hand, the added musical dimension detracts from the novella’s surface level simplicity, which, as is characteristic of Kafka’s works, turns out to be anything but, and obstructs real concentration on the points of linguistic interest, and the significance of that which is left unsaid. Indeed, I spent a fair amount of the production tying to work out what was actually being said, thanks to some of the singing, particularly from the cast’s male members, which was often lacking in clarity.
I’m no artist, and perhaps from a high-brow artistic perspective, The Trial is great; perhaps it’s unfair to consider it alongside its literary source. But, as an unpretentious Kafka reader and Jimbob’s-goer, this production didn’t strike me, move me, and I probably won’t be thinking about it next week. And for Kafka, that’s not good enough.
