Infinitheatre Takes KAFKA'S APE on Tour

By: Oct. 01, 2014
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Montreal's Infinithéâtre is taking its critically acclaimed Kafka's Ape to Stratford Ontario and the greater Montreal area as part of its fall tour for the 2014-2015 season. Regional theatregoers will enjoy this mesmerizing production throughout the month of October in a number of neighbourhoods and towns including Dorval, Wakefield, Saint Lambert, Le Plateau Mont-Royal and Hudson (please see dates below).

Based on Franz Kafka's short story A Report to an Academy (1917), and adapted by director Guy Sprung from the original German, Kafka's Ape upends the notion of civilization and what it means to be human in a world of routinized inhumanity. An unnerving satire on 'otherness' and the compounding growth of private military companies, Kafka's Ape stars Howard Rosenstein as keynote speaker and primate, Mr. Redpeter, in a theatrical tour-de-force performance. Alexandra Montagnese enthrallingly plays the silent role of Mrs. Redpeter.

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) is widely celebrated as one of the most important writers of the 20th century. Written during the darkest hours of the Great War, Kafka's A Report to an Academy (Ein Bericht für eine Academie) is a tale of a captured simian turned into a celebrated variety show act. In Sprung's scathing adaptation, Redpeter ends up as a distinguished member of the 'private security industry', one of the biggest growth industries of the 21st century.

Kafka's central thesis in his satire on forced assimilation - that other animals have a dignity and a respect for Mother Nature and their own species that Homo sapiens have lost - has been nudged into the 21st century. From director Guy Sprung, "When Kafka first wrote this short story, millions of human beings were coerced into an orgy of killing each other, proving Homo sapiens to be vastly superior to gorillas and chimpanzees when it came to mass murder and genocide. Ironically, one of the largest of the private military corporations doing business with the American government today is called Academi, formerly known as Blackwater. In a sense, it still is a report to an Academy." Queries Sprung, "Was Kafka able to see into the future?"

Movement coaches Anana Rydvald and Zach Fraser (also assistant director) helped the actors find the 'ape' in themselves. Lighting design is by Eric Mongerson, adapted for the tour by Tristynn Duheme; creature make-up design by Vladimir Alexandru Cara; composer, video and sound designer is Nikita U.

For more information on Kafka's Ape and reviews: www.infinitheatre.com/infinnbsppress-archives/archives/02-2013.

Infinithéâtre presents Kafka's Ape for its 2014-2015 fall season tour during the month of October.

Tour Dates:

· October 1st - 5th, Church Restaurant - 70 Brunswick Street, Stratford ON ($15)

· October 7th - 11th, Stratford Masonic Concert Hall - 15 Church Street, Stratford ON ($15)

· October 14th & 15th, Forest and Stream Club - 1800 Chemin Bord du Lac, Dorval (SOLD OUT)

· October 17th - 18th, Theatre Wakefield - 38 Valley Drive, Wakefield QC ($20)

· October 23rd - 25th, Saint-Lambert Multi-purpose Centre - 81 Hooper Street, Saint-Lambert ($25)

· October 30th, Maison de la Culture du Plateau Mont-Royal - 465 Ave. du Mont-Royal Est, Montréal (Free)

· October 31st & November 1st, Hudson Village Theatre - 28 Wharf Road, Hudson (TBA)

For Theatre Wakefield performances, advanced tickets can be purchased at www.theatrewakefield.ca. Advance tickets for all other performances can be purchased through the box-office at (514) 987-1774 ext. 104. Tickets also available at the door (cash only).

Infinithéâtre's mission is to develop, produce and broker new Québec theatre that is as entertaining as it is relevant, beginning with the belief that live theatre is an essential part of society's democratic discourse and that great theatre speaks to and about its own community.



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