Kafka's Dick

by Alan Bennett

This hilarious absurdist comedy by Alan Bennett takes us from early 20th Century Prague, via a Leeds Semi-Detached and on through the gates of Heaven. On the way we explore the nature of fame and the way artists, their work and reputation are remembered and manipulated by critics and historians. The actors will need to fully inhabit the characters and their complicated relationships. These relationships- Husband and Wife, Parent and offspring, Hero and acolyte and the loyalty of friends is at the centre of the comedy in the play. I have been intentionally vague about the ages of the characters, essentially Sidney and Linda are middle aged and Dad/Mum must look old. Kafka and Brod are back from the dead and can be any age. Hermann and Julie were still alive when Kafka died so don’t have to look older but should be middle aged.

A read through of the play will take place at the RDG Studio on Wednesday 11th December 2024 at 7.45pm

Characters
Backstage

Kafka

30’s to 60’s. Introverted literary genius Preferably taller than Brod.

Brod

30’s to 60’s. Extrovert. Preferably shorter than Kafka. A chancer who has benefitted from disloyalty.

Linda

40’s to 60’s. Frustrated wife of Sydney. Naïve and put upon but also warm and sympathetic.

Sydney

40’s to 60’s Insurance salesman obsessed with Kafka. He knows trivia about great artists but not their work.

Hermann K

40’s to 70’s Kafka’s father, a big overbearing bully.

Julie

40’s to 70’s Kafkas mother, put upon by Hermann.

Father/Mother

70’s to 80’s in appearance. Sydney’s parent. Written as father but could have a sex change! Is the centre of a running joke.