Join Kafka's Joseph K at Hope Street Theatre

Franz Kafka’s classic tale The Trial is getting a darkly comic retelling in a new production coming to the Hope Street Theatre this month.

Off The Ground Theatre presents Joseph K from May 18-20.

In the story, adapted by Tom Basden and which poses the question what happens when the state takes control, the titular Joseph K is awaiting a sushi delivery for his 30th birthday when he’s interrupted by two unidentified men who tell him he is under arrest.

As he navigates the confusing and frequently absurd legal system, he grapples with maddening bureaucracy, infuriating customer service and the distinct possibility that there’s no such thing as justice.

Off the Ground artistic director Dan Meigh, who is co-directing the play, says: “This feels like an incredibly timely show. It asks what we lose when we lose kindness in society, and how we’ve learned to accept things when they start falling apart, and it does all this while still making you laugh throughout.”

Kafka wrote his novel The Trial in 1915 but it was unfinished at his death in 1924. It was edited by his friend and literary executor and finally published in 1925, becoming one of his best-known works.

Joseph K is at the Hope Street Theatre from May 18-20. Tickets HERE