SCENE IT: Masterful, striking KAFKA’S APE an invitation to heart-wrenching compassion

Beverley Brommert

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Memorably good theatre entertains, disconcerts, touches the heart or stimulates the mind. Occasionally, a production that achieves all four comes along to captivate an audience, and such is the acclaimed one-hander, KAFKA’S APE, a brilliant adaptation of Franz Kafka’s, A Report to an Academy.

Photo by Zivanai Matangi.

Substituting animal protagonists for humans to point a moral or draw attention to unpalatable truths has proved effective since time immemorial (Aesop and La Fontaine come to mind). An articulate ape more or less assimilated into human society follows this tradition.

Between them, director Phala Ookeditse Phala and actor Tony Bonani Miyambo have wrought nearly an hour of riveting magic. 

The engaging ape christened Red Peter by his captors traces his harrowing journey, both physical and psychological, from the moonlit night of his capture in Tanzania, through periods of appalling cruelty in liberty-inhibiting conditions, to the present: an address in Johannesburg urbanely shared with his audience.

Moments of startling savagery rupture the sleek veneer of this ape-man's discourse, reminders of the animal instinct temporarily sheathed in the creature's acquired "humanity". The most visceral is a sudden shredding of the backdrop to reveal a structure irresistible to the simian urge to climb... which he promptly does.

Photo by Zivanai Matangi.

Direction is masterful, striking to a nicety the tricky balance between sentimental appeal and intellectual challenge.

A cute animal subjected to undeserved suffering to gratify human curiosity is placed in existential limbo as it transitions painfully from beast to member of "civilised" society - an invitation to heart-wrenching compassion.

On the other hand, Red Peter's new status is also an invitation to reflect upon more abstract issues, such as to what extent coercive assimilation into an alien society is desirable, humane, or even possible. 

The loss of innate freedom attendant upon such a process is obvious in the case of animal-to-human, but (especially in the case of present-day migrants from Africa to the northern hemisphere) more subtle, sinister and pervasive when one considers forced intercultural assimilation for humans. 

Photo by Zivanai Matangi.

The word "freedom" recurs like a leitmotif in the script: nostalgia for lost freedom, and also the imperative to escape bondage in quest of a new freedom. This is equally relevant for beasts and men, a common denominator to both.

Blurring the distinction between animal and human identity is central to this play, and makes enormous demands on the abilities of director and actor alike.

Miyambo gives a magisterial performance with minimal props: by turns endearing, ironic, humorous, detached and deeply engaged, he rings the changes with such nuance that one forgets this is acting as opposed to confiding personally-felt experience. 

Photo by Zivanai Matangi.

At times he is an academic lecturer delivering a report on evolution; at others he reverts to animal traits as a salivating, shambling ape quaintly garbed in suit and bow tie. At all times one has an uneasy awareness of his volatility, particularly those in front row seats.

This magnificent monologue shows what can be achieved when a classic like Kafka's A Report to an Academy is adapted for the stage with multilayered content clothed in witty speech. Highly rewarding theatre on all counts!

You can see KAFKA’S APE at the Baxter Theatre until 12 April 2025. Tickets can be booked online through Webtickets.