15/06/2026
đ¨New show: KAFKAâS DICK by Alan Bennett đ¨
Premiere: 28 June 2026, 8:30 pm
More Dates: 30 June & 1/ 2/ 8 July 2026, 8:30 pm
It is 1919. Franz Kafka, aspiring young writer and incurable hypochondriac, makes his best friend and fellow novelist, Max Brod, promise him to burn all his writings after his death. Although Brod initially agrees, he later changes his mind and saves Kafkaâs works for posterity.
When in 1986 Max Brod is magically transported from the realm of the dead to the home of a middle-class English couple, Linda and Sydney, the latter ones are excited. Sidney, an insurance man with a penchant for biographies of famous writers, cannot wait to discuss Kafka with Brod, the man who wrote his biography. Matters come to a head when shortly after, the family tortoise metamorphoses into Kafka himself, who is devastated to find that he is a famous writer after all. Linda, in turn, is fascinated by Franz Kafka who appreciates her in ways that her boring husband Sidney does not.
To make things worse, Kafkaâs nasty and brutal father Hermann joins the absurd dance of the dead. When he learns that literary criticism sees him as one of historyâs villains, he tries everything to whitewash his reputation. Driven by the wish to be liked by posterity, he blackmails his son Franz to admit that he was actually a good father, otherwise he will tell everyone that Franz is not as well-equipped between the legs as his father. When Kafka agrees to help his father fabricate lies, literary history is about to be re-writtenâŚ
Alan Bennettâs farcical comedy explores the nature of fame, the myth of the suffering artist and the very topical issue of fandom and its excesses.
Location: Kulturzentrum FĂRBEREI, Universitätsplatz 10, 34127 Kassel
Ticket Prices: âŹ5 students & âŹ10 regular
Disclaimer:
KAFKA'S DICK is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French, Ltd.
