KAFKA'S DREAM

About the show

Franz Kafka's narrative worlds do not follow the laws of rationality. Throughout the work of this literary giant, born in Prague in 1883, move peculiar figures and creatures that testify to the fact that human existence offers little security, and that family, love, and even everyday life can possess an overwhelming power. The office manager in "The Metamorphosis," the encounter between father and son in "The Judgment," or the "unearthly horses" that never carry Kafka's country doctor to his destination are ciphers of a world in which certainties become fragile. Kafka's prose electrifies with its enigmas, of which the author himself said, "the reflections they give rise are endless." One hundred years after his death, Franz Kafka is experiencing a renaissance on social media: Young people around the world are sharing Kafka's subtle humor and finding themselves reflected in his scenes of powerlessness—in his difficult relationship with his father, in his reflections on his early-sense sense of uniqueness as a person and artist, in the guilt of not being able to meet the demands of bourgeois life. Kafka describes the loneliness of the individual and finds words for the defiance of those who refuse to conform. Alongside this, moments of success shine brightly: euphoric writing that has left us the flawless prose of a man who—despite everything—is free and has not lost his sense of laughter. Andreas Kriegenburg is one of the most renowned directors in the German-speaking world and has worked continuously at the D’haus for years. In his production, he brings Kafka together with the characters from his own world and weaves these encounters into a surreal dream play.