"...a staggeringly well wrought production."
British Theatre Guide
"...immensely compelling theater...searing."
Boston Globe
"...performance is spell-binding... production is flawless."
Broadway Baby
"Stylistically sublime... theatrically outstanding."
FreshAir, UK
"A double performance of extreme and precise virtuosity."
Edmonton Journal
"Packed with edgy energy and booming heart."
Edinburgh Guide
"Kafka and Son is pure, unadulterated, surreal goodness."
VueWeekly, Canada
"A Masterpiece."
Edinburgh Festivals Magazine
"So intense that you find yourself hanging onto every word."
Plays To See, New York

Creative

Adapted by: Mark Cassidy and Alon Nashman from Franz Kafka’s "Brief an den Vater."

Directed by: Mark Cassidy

Performed by: Alon Nashman

Music by: Osvaldo Golijov, performed by the St. Lawrence String Quartet

Set by: Marysia Bucholc and Camellia Koo

Costume by: Barbara Singer

Lighting by: Andrea Lundy

Produced by: Theaturtle and Threshold Theatre, with Richard Jordan in association with The Pleasance

The story

At the age of 36, Franz Kafka was still living at home, a petty bureaucrat, a failed artist, a timid Jewish son. Ruling and ruining his life was his overbearing father, Hermann. What to do? Kafka wrote a 50 page letter to his father in which he reveals deep connections between his life and his fiction. Adapted from this monumental letter, Kafka and Son is a blistering, often hilarious, dissection of domestic authority, and a revelatory visit with one of the architects of the modern psyche.

Media

Gallery

Photo by Cylla von Tiedemann of Alon Nashman in Kafka and SonPhoto by Cylla von Tiedemann of Alon Nashman in Kafka and SonPhoto by Cylla von Tiedemann of Alon Nashman in Kafka and SonPhoto by Cylla von Tiedemann of Alon Nashman in Kafka and SonPhoto by Cylla von Tiedemann of Alon Nashman in Kafka and Son

Press

"Nashman's tour de force performance..."

TheaterScene, New York

"...a staggeringly well wrought production."

British Theatre Guide

"...immensely compelling theater...searing."

Boston Globe

"A masterpiece"

Edinburgh Festivals Magazine

"...performance is spell-binding... production is flawless."

Broadway Baby

"Packed with edgy energy and booming heart."

Edinburgh Guide

"Kafka and Son is pure, unadulterated, surreal goodness."

VueWeekly, Canada

"Haunting solo Kafka and Son was showered with enthusiastic applause and shouts of Bravo. A triumph."

Kieler Nachrichten, Germany

"Nashman’s masterpiece... the experience is almost completely overwhelming. It is a true and unforgettable privilege to be able to see this performer in South Africa."

Johannesburg Review, South Africa

"Whether or not you are familiar with Kafka’s writings this is one tremendous solo performance piece you don’t want to miss. Highly recommended."

Prague Fringe Review, Czech Republic

"...powerful, haunting... the experience of Kafka and Son is so intense that you find yourself hanging onto every word."

Plays To See, New York

For presenters

For touring productions or commissioning, please contact us with all inquiries.

Overview (PDF) Production info