Kafta's Monkey

Imagine a woman playing a monkey playing a man. This is the world premiere of Kafka's masterful and little-known but impacting short story, Kafka's Monkey.

"Honoured members of the Academy! You have done me the honour of inviting me to give you an account of the life I formerly led as an ape."

Imprisoned in a cage and desperate to escape, the ape-man reveals his rise through the ranks of the beasts to become a walking, talking, spitting, smoking, hard-drinking man of the stage.

Based on A Report to an Academy by Franz Kafka and adapted by Colin Teevan, Kafka's Monkey will be directed by Walter Meierjohann with movement by Ilan Reichel.

Reminiscent of Kafka's more famous Metamorphosis, in which a man transforms into a beetle, A Report to an Academy is quintessential Kafka - a grotesque, brilliant mixture of absurdity and pain.

Deeply theatrical, witty and absurd, Teevan's new adaptation of this milestone of modern literature places a profound and startling mirror in front of a modern day audience and reveals a world in which humans appear ape-like and apes humane.

Kafka's Monkey gives an insight into the anguish of attempting to belong but always being kept outside - a theme which has remarkable contemporary relevance in our globalised world.

With live music and physical performance, the show draws on the rich associations of the variety stage and incorporates elements of Berlin cabaret, street dance and stand-up comedy.

Kafka's Monkey will tour the Sydney Theatre Company and the Malthouse Theatre (Melbourne) directly after the Young Vic dates.

The production stars Kathryn Hunter who plays the monkey, Red Peter. She is a founding member of Complicité and an artistic associate of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her screen work includes Mike Leigh's All or Nothing and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Born in Prague in 1883, much of Franz Kafka's work remained unpublished and attracted little attention until after his death in 1924. His writing explores themes of alienation and the pain of adapting to a hostile environment. Some of his most famous works include The Trial, The Castle and Metamorphosis.

The play opens from Saturday 14 March to 9 April at the Young Vic Theatre, 66 The Cut, London, SE1 8LZ. 7:45pm; mats 3:45pm. Adm: £17.50; previews and under 26s £10; over 60s and unemployed £15 (not available for previews); half-price Wednesday mats. Info: 0207 922 2922.