AUGUST 13 – SEPTEMBER 4

MALTHOUSE THEATRE, SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY AND THINICE PRESENT

THE TRIAL

ADAPTED BY LOUISE FOX
FROM THE NOVEL BY FRANZ KAFKA
DIRECTOR MATTHEW LUTTON
SET DESIGNER CLAUDE MARCOS
COSTUME DESIGNER ALICE BABIDGE
ASSISTANT COSTUME DESIGNER MEL PAGE
LIGHTING DESIGNER PAUL JACKSON
COMPOSER ASH GIBSON GREIG
SOUND DESIGNER KELLY RYALL
BESEN FAMILY ARTIST PROGRAM SARAH JOHN (DIRECTION)

CAST
JOHN GADEN
PETER HOUGHTON
RITA KALNEJAIS
EWEN LESLIE
BELINDA MCCLORY
HAMISH MICHAEL
IGOR SAS

MERLYN THEATRE
AUGUST 13 – SEPTEMBER 4

Running Time: Approx 110 min (no interval)

Josef K (Ewen Leslie) is in trouble with a capital T. He’s been accused of something and no one will tell him exactly what.

Despite his adamant protestations of innocence, K finds himself swept up on an inexorable tide of bureaucracy, dragged adrift by strange forces that are invisible, threatening and unstoppable. He knows that the law court is intent on punishing guilt but just what ‘guilt’ is, is growing ever more ambiguous.

A confident, obsessive and hardworking bank clerk, when K becomes embroiled in this surreal, utterly frustrating and inescapable court trial, he begins to transform into an entirely different person. The memories of airless, claustrophobic rooms haunt him wherever he goes and court officials appear from the darkest corners of the most unexpected places.

Slowly, gradually, K’s composed demeanour is eroded and – as the world around him becomes increasingly nightmarish reality slips from his grasp.

In this Malthouse Theatre, Sydney Theatre Company and ThinIce commission, Louise Fox (Elizabeth) and Matt Lutton, the writer/director team of Malthouse Theatre’s smash hit, Tartuffe, revel in Kafka’s wit, his defining absurdity and his underlying eroticism.

A MALTHOUSE THEATRE, SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY AND THINICE COMMISSION

THIS PROJECT HAS BEEN ASSISTED BY THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT THOUGH THE INTERCONNECTIONS INITIATIVE OF THE AUSTRALIA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS, ITS ARTS FUNDING AND ADVISORY BODY.

PHOTO GARTH ORIANDER PICTURED (L-R) EWEN LESLIE, JOHN GADEN & BELINDA MCCLORY