THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY
THE ALLEYNIAN 708 | OUT OF THE ORDINARY
Running away from ourselves A-level presentation
DRAMA
Year 13 Drama and Theatre students’ staging of extracts from The Trial conveyed Kafka’s dystopian vision with nightmarish clarity, says Kathryn Norton-Smith
B erkoff’s adaptation of Kafka’s novel The Trial depicts an individual who is dwarfed by the state, and caught up in the web of rumours and misinformation with which we are familiar in modern society. The Trial begins with the arrest of bank clerk Joseph K in his bedroom one morning for an unspecified crime, and follows his attempts to discover why this has occurred, and how he can acquit himself. Inspired by the image of perpetual running in the play, the performed extract focused on the existential crisis of the individual battling with, and trying to escape, the societal constructs imposed upon him. This extremely talented Sixth Form cohort had us hooked from the downbeat with their slick, fast-paced and razor-sharp execution of Berkovian technique. The performers all skilfully embraced ensemble playing, heightened characterisation, detailed mime, multi-roling and expressionistic choreographed sequences, while Lighting Designer Lorcan Tierney gave us non-naturalistic directional light, using saturated colour-sharp silhouettes to convey the darkly comic dilemmas of the everyman caught in an absurd bureaucratic world from which he is trying to escape. Louis Rudnicki in the central role of Joseph K deftly captured the character’s fracturing mental state and increasing confusion as he attempts to find a foothold in a world that is rapidly crumbling around him. Berkoff’s use of quick
stichomythic exchanges elevates the text off the page, giving the audience insight into the robotic constructs of the metropolis, and Henry Wallder and Darshy Whittington- Rao excelled in portraying the clumsy menace of the nameless Guards. Dark humour was evident too in Fred Robb’s interpretation of The Inspector as a smiling assassin. He dazzled and charmed with flamboyant gestures and a wicked smile, clearly relishing his glamorous arrival to the strains of the MGM lion and The Philadelphia Story . Joseph K was disarmed, and we were too. Monty Slater’s highly comedic Mrs Grubach unnerved both Joseph K and the audience, as he morphed from the girl of K’s fantasies to a grimly predatory and over-bearing landlady! Thomas Giles’ Bailiff was suitably sinister, displaying feral, rat- like qualities and a neat line in evasion. The ensemble playing was of the highest dramatic order and their slick manipulation of metal frames ensured they exploited every opportunity to conjure a vision of shifting worlds, corridors and vortexes, an expressionistic extension of K’s state of mind, where the individual is subsumed by the state. All revealed a terrific dynamic range as they multi-roled to convey Berkoff’s myriad of generic nameless characters as encountered by Joseph K in his downward spiral. The muscularity of their physical and vocal work combined to create a highly visual and charged A-level presentation.
This extremely talented Sixth Form cohort had us hooked from the downbeat with their slick, fast-paced and razor-sharp execution of Berkovian technique
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