Event
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The Castle (Das Schloss) / or imagine K. happy
The Castle (Das Schloss) / or imagine K. happy
About the event
A Modern Take on Kafka's Bureaucratic Nightmare
British playwright Georgia Bruce reimagines Franz Kafka's fragmented novel The Castle through a starkly contemporary lens. When K. arrives at a village seeking permission to establish residence, he enters a labyrinth of bureaucratic obstacles that grow more absurd and insurmountable with each attempt to navigate them. Unapproachable officials, cryptic regulations, and a system designed to exclude him create a Sisyphean cycle of failed belonging.
Speaking to Queer and Trans Experience Today
Director Jules Head weaves in Albert Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus, transforming the classic tale into an exploration of trans identity and systemic exclusion. This intimate ensemble piece follows a trans man grappling with a world that questions his very right to exist. As political violence against queer and trans bodies intensifies globally, the production asks urgent questions: What does it mean to remain incomplete in a society obsessed with completion? Can we find peace not in reaching acceptance, but in the struggle itself?
The Production
Featuring Ujesh Buchele, Nina Bruns, and Lukas von Horbatschewsky, with music by Tom Foskett-Barnes and set design by Janina Kuhlmann. Duration: 1 hour 40 minutes, no intermission. Part of Berliner Ensemble's experimental WORX program at Werkraum—a fearless, intimate meditation on bureaucratic absurdity, belonging, and the radical act of imagining happiness amid systemic resistance.
