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'The
Trial' begins with the arrest of bank clerk Joseph K in his bedroom
one morning for a unspecified crime, and follows his attempts to discover
why this occurred, and how he can acquit himself. At first disbelieving,
K, played brilliantly by Richard Darbourne, soon finds himself alternating
between despair and frustration as it becomes more and more clear
that the
law with which he is attempting to grapple is a thing of myth, rumour
and
supposition, and the people who claim to be able to help him know
little
more than he. He encounters enigmatic, seductive women of uncertain
influence, all played by Rebecca Rogers; a reassuringly authoritative
but
ultimately powerless lawyer, Daniel Maine; and a painter played by
Andrew
Zadel who can offer only dispiriting advice. The acting is universally
excellent, and the kinetic choreography extremely slick.
The
play makes a virtue of its somewhat cramped setting in the
Burton-Taylor to heighten the feeling of claustrophobia. Often K is
surrounded on three sides by the cast, with the closeness of the audience
completing the imprisonment. Again, the necessarily minimalist (if
worryingly flimsy) set is designed and used effectively to parallel
the
disorientation and distortion that K suffers.
The
staging is unconventional, with multiple characters played by the
same
actors and all the cast on stage at all times, as a disturbing,
white-faced background tableau when not playing particular individuals.
They whisper or shout in impressively tight unison or a disturbing
babble;
at times representing K's conflicted inner thoughts, sometimes the
general
public to which he suddenly no longer belongs since his arrest,
occasionally condensing an argument or discussion into a bewildering
exchange. This mechanic gives an almost perversely fast but effective
pace
to a play which is, after all, about waiting, worrying and fruitless
conversations. The final scene is a particularly powerful climax to
this
excellent, darkly humorous and disturbing production.
Review
by Alex Williams
Jane
Labous
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