THE TRIAL | STAGE REVIEW
Sherman Cymru, Cardiff, Fri 7 Nov
Given no instructions and then told off for not being in the right place at the right time, feeling at a disadvantage for not knowing the right people, having all those around you tell you it would just be easier to give up – any of that sound familiar?
Anyone who has tried to get anything out of the government (or any other bureaucracy filled organisation) will be able to relate to Music Theatre Wales and Philip Glass’s new operatic take on the classic Franz Kafka novel.
This brilliantly cast and beautifully staged show tells the tale of Josef K – a bank manager who is awoken by two guards on the day of his 30th birthday, and told he is being arrested. What for? He isn’t told.
Though he is allowed to continue with his life (just one of the many funny lines of the show is “being arrested isn’t meant to interfere with your everyday life”) Josef K then tries to work through the system to get himself acquitted of all charges. He approaches lawyer, painters and sultry cleaners to help him.
The cast of The Trail were superb: Johnny Herford worked well with the frustrated but relatively plain character of Josef K and the rest of the performers took on several roles seamlessly. Although all characters and performances were strong a few of my favourites were the all-too-familiar Inspector (Michael Druiett), the eccentric artist Titorelli (Paul Curievici) and the manipulative and horny washerwoman (Rowan Hellier). Director Michael McCarthy did a top job of getting the best out of each of them both in terms of their acting and strong voices.
I also thoroughly enjoyed watching the two guards – Michael Bennett and Nicholas Folwell – whose brilliantly ostentatious moustaches made them look like the Pringles guy and monopoly man had decided to go to a fancy dress party as a couple of coppers.
The true stars of the show, however, were the designers Simon Banham and Ace McCarron. They created a minimalist set that made great use of few props, hidden doors and lighting. It changed rapidly to fit the tone of each scene and I was truly amazed with how much was done with so little.
The main problem I had with the show was, as someone who hasn’t read Kafka’s classic tale of totalitarianism and bureaucracy, I felt very much on the back foot. This might just be a problem on my part and some may argue that is my own ignorant fault, but I strongly feel that any show based on a book has a duty to be entertaining and understandable to those who aren’t familiar with the original text. If you don’t do this you’re just creating a very dramatic version of a book club.
That being said the majority of the performance was highly enjoyable. The characters were complex and fun to watch, there was a great dark sense of humour throughout and there was dramatic tension where it needed to be. I felt, however, the show would have been much stronger had it trimmed the fat a bit by shortening one or two of the longer speeches.
words HEATHER ARNOLD
