Synopsis
Credits Director Melissa Cantwell Conductor Mark Coughlan Starring Lachlan Higgins as Josef K. Cast Caitlin Cassidy
On his 30th birthday, bank clerk Josef K. is suddenly arrested for an unspecified crime. He is told that he will be set free but must make regular appearances at a court building while his trial proceeds. Although he never comes to know the charges and particulars of his case, Josef K. finds his life taken over by opaque bureaucratic procedures and is tormented by the psychological pressures exerted by his legal nightmare. The Trial is a haunting meditation on freedom, the powerlessness of the individual in the face of the state and a warning call against the totalitarian excesses of the 20th century.
Video Designer Emma Fishwick Choreographer Laura Boynes Executive Producer Tim Carter Production Manager Jack Wilson Stage Manager Bel Hughes Assistant Stage Manager Beth Walters Project supporters The McCusker Charitable Foundation, Torsten and Mona Ketelsen, Marco D’Orsogna and Terry Scott, Pei-Yin Hsu, Sue Hovell, Warwick Hemsley and Tony & Felicity Ruse. The company also wishes to thank The Arts and Culture Trust, Ben Tyers, Black Swan State Theatre Company, CBRE team, Clare Jones and Lauren Wallace, CCA Productions, Dylan Crosbie, Edward Cranfield and Snadens and Zenith, Haze Technical, Jarred Wall, Mark Clapham, Mechanists: Gus O’Keeffe; Maisy Williams; Hayley Terwey; Henry Howard, Perth Festival team, Anna Kosky and Rachael Whitworth, Technical Partner: Elite Lighting, West Australian Opera, Chris van Tuinen, Mandy Farmer and Virginia Vona, West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Evan Kennea, WAAPA, Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company
Frau Grubach/Washerwoman (Wife of Court Usher)/Offstage Voice/Woman Rachelle Durkin Fräulein Bürstner/Leni/Offstage Voice Robert Hofmann Inspector/Uncle Albert Noah Humich Titorelli/Flogger/Student (Berthold) Lachlann Lawton Guard 2 (Willem)/Court Usher/ Clerk of the Court/Priest Euan MacMillan Guard 1 (Franz)/Block/Offstage Voice Brett Peart Magistrate/Assistant/Lawyer Huld/ Offstage Voice West Australian Symphony Orchestra Violin Semra Lee Viola Daniel Schmidtt Cello Jeremy Garside Double Bass Elizabeth Browning Horn Eve McEwen Trumpet Koominka Trombone Peter Younghusband Percussion Brian Maloney & Robyn Gray Pianist Tommaso Pollio Designer Bruce McKinven Lighting Designer Matthew Erren Sound Designer & Operator Declan Barber Flute Andrew Nicholson Oboe Stephanie Nichols Clarinet Geoff Bourgault
A Note from the Director
Against the backdrop of a global rise in authoritarianism Kafka’s voice pierces through time: provocative, playful and brutally honest. In 2026 The Trial evokes images of ICE agents dragging civilians into the street, refugees at border crossings and state sanctioned cruelty in many guises. Echoes of cancel culture grotesquerie reverberate through the spine of the work. In Phillip Glass’ exquisite score, the tragically enduring nature of Kafka’s words find a contemporary vitality that reminds us of the deep beauty of humanity, artists and the collaborative endeavour, which the creation of this production has most certainly been.
Melissa Cantwell
© 2014 Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc. Used by Permission. Proudly supported by the WA Government, Forrest Chase | ISPT, the Arts and Culture Trust, and Black Swan State Theatre Company.
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