Education Kit for Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka

Transcription

1 Education Kit for Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka (2017 Edition)

2 About JOCKEY CLUB New Arts Power With a commitment to promote Hong Kong arts overseas, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) has been actively presenting outstanding local artists in the global arts scene. Works by these artistic talents shine through reputable overseas arts festivals and other showcase platforms, forming a new arts power on the international stage. In the past two years, HKADC has brought artists to the Performing Arts Market in Seoul (PAMS), the Busan International Dance Market (BIDAM), Gwangju Biennale in Korea, internationale tanzmesse nrw (Tanzmesse) in Düsseldorf, Germany, OzAsia Festival in Adelaide, Australia, Shenzhen Theatre Biennial and Kuandu Arts Festival in Taipei. Overseas arts practitioners and general audiences abroad have the chance to enjoy the most lively and nest works of arts from Hong Kong. Funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, these works that have earned much acclaim abroad shall return to our hometown for Hong Kong people. JOCKEY CLUB New Arts Power shall present 19 programmes including modern dance, music and theatrical performances, as well as ceramics and media arts exhibitions. Through different art forms, our home-grown artists express themselves and interpret life with perspectives and sentiments that are uniquely Hong Kong. Apart from the original shows, the art groups are also putting together over 160 community and school programmes in collaboration with the social work, academic and commercial sectors, so as to bring high quality works of arts to people from all walks of life and in every corner of our city. Arts returns to our lives, and life enriches arts.

3 Table of Content The Maturing of Kafka's Box... 2 About Alice Theatre Laboratory... 5 Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka (2017 Edition)... 5 Biography of Franz Kafka... 6 The Inception of Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka... 8 About the Seven Boxes The Cast of Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka Talks about Kafka Keywords Questions for Reflections... 19

4 The Maturing of Kafka's Box Kuk Fei Theatre Critic / Founder, Hong Kong Theatre Libre Time flies, and this year is the 10th anniversary of Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka s first performance. I remember back in September, 2008, I watched the premiere of this show at the small theatre at Central s Fringe Club, and felt immensely excited as I exited the theatre because I knew that Alice Theatre Laboratory artistic director Andrew Chan Hang Fai and his team had written a new chapter for Hong Kong s small theatre movement with this work. The play went on to win nine theatre awards including Best Director at the Hong Kong Drama Awards as well as Best Play Script, Best Director, Best Leading Actress and Best Ensemble at the 1st Hong Kong Theatre Libre. Top Chinese theatre critic Lin Kehuan wrote that the play transformed Kafka s alternative universe in writing into a colourful and expressionistic threedimensional portrait. Using the devised theatre method, Chan work-shopped with his cast to explore different aspects of Kafka s life and works, allowing the actors to interpret Kafka s characters using their own points of view and present key parts of Kafka s stories. The result is a collaborative effort that is unique in terms of form and direction. I remember at a postaward event of the 1st Hong Kong Theatre Libre, lead actress Chan Shui Yu revealed that they employed Konstantin Stanislavski s performance theory as the basis, upon which they built up new acting techniques, and that they will continue in the same spirit so that their theatre group can come up with more alternative works in the future. To appreciate this play, whether performed in small theatres or outdoors, one must understand the nature of little theatre. As it is developed in different countries and eras, little theatre is influenced by various prevailing artistic styles and principles, which affects its content and concept. The exact origins of little theatre has been much debated, but most people agree that arose with the Theatre Libre in Paris, founded by the father of French little theatre Andre Antoine ( ), who believed that the true purpose of little theatre should be to break through the restrictions of traditional theatre in order to explore different possibilities, and to shatter the distance between audiences and performers so that the stage can be more than mere entertainment and serve as a vehicle for conveying various ideas. Later, the little theatre movement spread to the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, the United States and Japan, among others. In his book The Spirit in the Little Theatre, French director Jacques Copeau stated that little theatre is generating a new movement in theatre and that the very existence of little theatre is to challenge two main shortcomings of conventional theatre: industrialisation and cabotinage. Copeau demanded that little theatre performers act with simplicity and rejected the use of professional actors from conventional theatre, but instead employed nonprofessional casts to achieve his theatrical experimentations. Jerome Savary, another French theatre director pointed out that theatre should not simply a literary representation, but a means by which audiences can exchange ideas and annihilate the walls that separate one another. The most distinguishing aspect of little theatre is its overturning of the ossified forms of conventional theatre and breaking away from the long-held dependence on spoken 2

5 language, thus opening up new possibilities for theatre and avenues for communication between theatre creators and audiences. Since the early 20th Century, little theatre has taken many different shapes and forms, sparking a great deal of theatrical theory and spawned numerous classic works such as the works by Samuel Beckett and Eugene Ionesco. Some theatre groups experimented with various theatrical forms to express their views on society. For example, Theatre of Absurdity uses language to convey the sense of alienation in human relationships as well as the world s decadence. Epic Theatre, first developed by Bertolt Brecht, was used to propagate Marxist ideals. The Living Theatre movement in the United States was highly political and aimed at inspiring audiences to question the prevailing governmental institutions and propagating anarchism. At the same time, some artists explored and experimented with new aesthetics forms and used various imageries to convey ideas. For example, in the plays directed by Robert Wilson, the theatre is seen as a venue for bringing to light products of the imagination, and shunned language, plot and character relationships in favor of visual imageries. Some theatre groups strived to break through the barrier between performers and audiences; known as environmental theatre, this movement is exemplified by the Bread and Puppet Theatre in the United States. In China, little theatre first appeared in the early 20th century. An essay written by Soong Tsung Faung in 1919 entitled Meaning of Little Theatre, its origins and present state was the first piece of writing to introduce and advocate little theatre. Later, with the appearance of the Demotic Opera Troupe, little theatre began to be regularly and systematically promoted in their publication, Drama, and other newspapers and journals also started to translate and publish related materials on the subject, among which Chen Dai Bi s long essay Amateur Theatre was the most influential. The advocacy of little in China was centred on two directions, the first was the establishment of a new alternate theatre distinct from conventional Western-style theatre so that the Chinese theatre scene can become more regularised, professional and scientific. The other was to give prominence to stage directors rather than stars so that the creative ideas behind the script, performance and stage design can become an organic whole and fully embody the art of theatre. In Hong Kong, the little theatre movement began in the 1970s. In 1982, Danny Yung, known as the godfather of Hong Kong culture, founded the avant garde theatre group Zuni Icosahedron, and following from his example, the little theatre scene in Hong Kong became more active. Based on the above, it can be seen that Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka is filled with the small theatre spirit. Hong Kong Literary Criticism Society chair Ng Mei Kwan opined that the play expresses the sense of confusion and absurdity of modern people. Using subjective hallucinations, dreams, perplexity and absurdity, this work articulates modern society s alienation and the resulting decadence, and people s screaming and pleading echo the Expressionist archetypes current in Germany at the time and recall the classic expressionist painting by Edvard Munch, The Scream in particular, its sense of oppression, distortion, deformation and shock as well as the restlessness, loneliness and anxiety that seem to rise up from the depth of people s souls. We are like the spectators lurking in the background of that famous painting, indifferent to the main character s cries of agony, for his pain and 3

6 hopelessness only exists in his imagination and hallucination, while we stand apart at a safe distance. This is one of the reasons why Kafka s stories fascinate us. I asked Chan what distinguishes the 2017 reboot (its 7th rerun) from previous instalments, and he replied that in the past ten years, he has grown more mature and Hong Kong, too, has undergone many changes, most notably the Umbrella Movement in That is why in rehearsing The Trial and The Castle, the mood and the actors psychological states were completely different from the past. 4

7 About Alice Theatre Laboratory Alice Theatre Laboratory (ATL) is devoted to experimental performances, devising theatre and the development of youth theatre. Starting from 2008, works by ATL, all critically acclaimed, have been nominated for and received a number of awards at the Hong Kong Drama Awards and the Hong Kong Theatre Libre. Their piece, Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka, was recommended and supported by HKADC to tour to Kuandu Arts Festival 2016 in Taiwan. Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka (2017 Edition) Inspired by Kafka s works, Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka explores Kafka s philosophy and cultivates an even more philosophical viewing experience. It gathers a full range of Kafka s creative ideas and is outlined three- dimensionally in the form of devising theatre with the help of multi-media technology and experimental music Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka (Taipei Performance) Kuandu Arts Festival 2011 Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka (Macau Version) 8th Chinese Drama Festival 2010 Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka (Beijing Version) 2010 Beijing Youth Theatre Festival Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka (Shanghai Performance) 2009 Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka (Re-run) 2008 Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka (Premiere) 5

8 Biography of Franz Kafka I am a quite impossible bird I am a jackdaw a kavka. Franz Kafka was a Czech novelist known for his existential novels, and was named the literary psychoanalyst. Family Background Franz Kafka was born on 3 July 1883 to a Jewish family in Prague, and died on 3 June, Education Kafka enrolled in the Charles University in Prague, majoring in law, and received his law degree in June, Career He then obtained a job with the Workers' Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia while devoting his time to writing at night. His job at the Workers' Accident Insurance Institute involved finding ways to reduce industrial work-related accidents and supervising measures related to insurance benefits, and was credited with saving hundreds of lives during his tenure. Life as Writer Kafka started writing at the age of 14, but decided to burn all of his early writings. He published few works during his lifetime and professed little desire to do so because he was rarely satisfied with them, and seldom took his manuscripts out of the drawer where they were kept. The few pieces that were published when he was alive were done so at the behest of his friends. After his death, his friend Max Brod arranged for the publication of his complete works. Works Kafka s major works include the short stories, Contemplation, The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, A Country Doctor, as well as three novels unpublished in his lifetime: The Trial, The Castle and Amerika. Written in German, Kafka s works interwove reality and non-reality, depicting worlds that are like penal colonies ruled by mysterious authoritarian regimes in which humans have to navigate labyrinthine rules, leading lives of isolation and alienation. 6

9 Important Works: Short Stories The Burrow The Judgment In the Penal Colony A Hunger Artist A Country Doctor Up in the Gallery Novella The Metamorphosis Novel The Trial The Castle Amerika 7

10 The Inception of Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka Andrew Chan Artistic Director, Alice Laboratory Theatre (Photo Credit: 唐健哲 ) About Friendship Kafka once said to his good friend Max Brod: My will is simple - I want you to burn everything I leave behind. The inception of Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka was inspired by Kafka s last words and his relationship with Max Brod. In 1924, at the age of 40, Kafka s condition continued to deteriorate as his laryngeal tuberculosis worsened. He wrote to Brod, asking him to burn all his papers, including manuscripts, notes and letters, upon his death. After combing through Kafka s papers, Brod discovered his last will, on which he wrote: Just in case, then, this is my last will concerning all I have written: Of all my writings the only books that can stand are these: The Judgment, The Stoker, Metamorphosis, Penal Colony, Country Doctor and the short story: Hunger Artist When I say that those five books and the short story can stand, I do not mean that I wish them to be reprinted and handed down to posterity. On the contrary, should 8

11 they disappear altogether that would please me best. Only, since they do exist, I do not wish to hinder anyone who may want to, from keeping them. (1) This begs the question: in the end, was Brod the friend of Kafka or his literature? In Franz Kafka, a Biography, Brod included many indelible vignettes describing his relationship with Kafka, from their highly charged polemic on Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, their discussion around literature to their visits to the theatre, their reading of their own works and sharing of each other s lives. Brod, as Kafka s greatest friend and biggest fan, did everything he could to get his friend s works published. The friendship between these two writers touched me deeply, and at the same time ignited my interest in Brod as a person. At the age of 17, Czech poet Gustav Janouch became acquainted with Kafka through his father. He later recorded his conversations with Kafka in a book, which, aside from presenting fragments of their time together, also left behind Kafka s wise words. He introduced himself to his young friend: I am a quite impossible bird I am a jackdaw - a kavka. (2) Writing was important to Kafka. It was a sacred ritual that comforted his soul and mind. He said to the budding poet: Writing, after all, is a kind of invocation of spirits. (3) The gazing eyes of this great writer often showed a depth of sadness, and his words often expressed the irony in life: Despite our pain, all we are is tragic comedians. (4) One day, a strange thought occurred to me: what kind of chemistry would we see if Brod and Janouch were placed together on the same stage? About His Father When I first read Kafka, I did not examine his work in context of his life. Re-reading it again, however, I noticed Kafka s father cast a long and dark shadow. In Letter to His Father, he wrote: I suffered, after all, in my every thought under intense pressure from you, even (and in fact especially) where my thoughts were completely different from yours. All these thoughts that seemed independent of you buckled from the outset under the burden of your derogatory judgements (5) 9

12 The struggle of men against a higher power is a frequent subject found in Kafka s writings. Although often interpreted as a political struggle, I still feel that paternity is a consistent key theme in all his work. His father is the all-seeing higher power - like the law in The Trial and the castle in The Castle. This is why the Box of Father and Son was the first to be constructed out of the seven boxes, and within this first box are Letter to His Father and The Judgement. We can feel a presence of Kafka s father in all the works contained in the rest of the boxes. About Noise Apart from his father, another recurring word in Kafka s writings is noise, which is most apparent in The Burrow, one of his later works. The creature in The Burrow gives a firstperson account of the building of his vast network of tunnels, in which he lives and eats. Death is an ominous subject Kafka never shied away from: he mentioned death, described it in great detail, even made it a fate the characters in his stories cannot evade. In this story, however, the will to survive seems to be the predominant theme. The noise that terrorises the creature adds tension to the story at the same time: First I shall have to listen at the walls of my passages and locate the place of disturbance by experimental excavations, and only then will I be able to get rid of the noise And it is not even constant, as such noises usually are; there are long pauses, obviously caused by stoppages of the current of air I don't seem to be getting any nearer to the place where the noise is, it goes on always on the same thin note, with regular pauses, now a sort of whistling, but again like a kind of piping Such noises may quite well though until now I have never had to wait so long for that to happen may quite well vanish of themselves in the course of time through the continued labours of these little burrowers. (6) As his life came to an end, Kafka reflected about his life through the creature in The Burrow, saying: I have had a great deal of luck all those years, luck has spoiled me; I have had anxieties, but anxiety leads to nothing when you have luck to back you. (7) Noise is also a frequent word used in his other stories. Like in his masterpiece The Trial: He finally noticed they were speaking to him but he did not understand them, all he heard was a noise that filled all the space and through which there seemed to be an unchanging higher note sounding, like a siren. (8) A New Element: Zigeunerweisen Op

13 I explained how friendship, father and noise became the inspiration of our creation but during rehearsal, a new member joined the cast. Zigeunerweisen, literally Gypsy Airs, is a piece of classical music. Like the gypsies, the Jews have been a race subjected to displacement throughout history. Kafka, as a Jew, explored identity issues and the experience of aliens in a foreign country. The sorrow and agitation resound in the music by Spanish composer Pablo de Sarasate, reminding me of Jews, of Kafka, and of his fickle love life. We hope our performance would inspire you to read or reread the great works of Franz Kafka. Do not forget Kafka! This might be why I created this play... From the bottom of my heart. Notes: (1) F. Kafka, The Complete Stories, New York, Schocken Books Inc., 1971, Forward p.[x]. (2) G. Janouch, Conversations with Kafka, trans. G. Rees, 2nd edn., New York, New Directions Books, 1971, p.16. (3) G. Janouch, Conversations with Kafka, trans. G. Rees, 2nd edn., New York, New Directions Books, 1971, p.42. (4) G. Janouch, Conversations with Kafka, trans. G. Rees, 2nd edn., New York, New Directions Books, 1971, p.97. (5) F. Kafka, Dearest Father, trans. H. and R. Stokes, Surrey, U.K., Oneworld Classics Ltd, 2008, p. 26. (6) F. Kafka, The Complete Stories, New York, Schocken Books Inc., 1971, p.343. (7) F. Kafka, The Complete Stories, New York, Schocken Books Inc., 1971, p.351. (8) F. Kafka, The Trial, trans. I. Parry, London, Penguin Random House, 2015, p

14 About the Seven Boxes (Photo Credit: 唐健哲 ) The First Box: The Box of Father and Son Works: Letter to His Father, The Judgement The revolt of the son against the father is one of the primeval themes of literature, and an even older problem in the world. (1) Paternal authority often catches us in the predicament between wanting to break free from a father s control and depending on his support. In addition to Kafka s letter to his father, this story is about the conflict between father and son, portraying the fear and dependency, the hate and admiration in this strained relationship. The Second Box: The Box of Punishment Work: In the Penal Colony The officer in the story is both a sadist and a masochist. He is a sinner as well as a martyr. The short story is one of Kafka s favourites and tells the tale of sin and martyrdom through a dreamy and mysterious aura. 12

15 The Third Box: The Box of Animals (Part I) Work: The Burrow The creature gives a first-person account of the building of his vast network of tunnels, in which he lives and eats. Death is an ominous subject Kafka never shied away from: he mentioned death, described it in great detail, even made it a fate the characters in his stories cannot evade. In this story, however, the will to survive seems to be the predominant theme. The Third Box: The Box of Animals (Part II) Work: Metamorphosis As Gregor Samsa awoke from unsettling dreams one morning, he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. (2) Undoubtedly the most impactful opening sentence in modern literature. A story about human s alienation, Kafka did not describe the process of which the man becomes the vermin. Instead, his tale of loneliness and isolation after the metamorphosis becomes a grotesque classic. The Fourth Box: The Box of Love Work: Letters to Milena Kafka s attraction to Milena was fascinating. She drew him out of his world of words, made him face flesh and blood, and even teased out his fear of intimacy. Milena might be Kafka s greatest love, but of course, before and after her, there were other women. The Fifth Box: The Box of Parables and Aphorisms Works: On Parables, A Little Fable, The Zürau Aphorisms Kafka had read his fair share of Zhuang Zi. He told the young Janouch: I ve underlined some sentences. For instance: Death is not brought to life by life; Life is not killed by dying. Life and death are conditioned, they are contained with a great coherence. This is, I think, the fundamental and central problem of all religions and of wisdom about life. It s a question of grasping the coherence of things and time, of deciphering one self, and of penetrating one s own becoming and dying. (3) Are we able to find traces of Chinese philosophy in Kafka s work? 13

16 Two possibilities: making oneself infinitely small or being so. The second is perfection, that is to say, inactivity, the first is beginning, that is to say, action. - Aphorism 90 There is a school of thought that claims pain and suffering are the theme of Kafka s parables and aphorisms, but by studying closer, you will learn the truth - rather than drowning ourselves in pain, he wished for us to find a way to transcend our sufferings, which will eventually lead to a path of happiness. The Sixth Box: The Box of Labyrinth Works: The Trial, The Castle In two unfinished tales, two classic protagonists battling the mystic, higher bureaucracy against all odds, heading towards the great unknown - in a labyrinth, where should they go? This is Kafka s parabolic and ambiguous discourse at its best in two of his masterpieces. The Seventh Box: The Box of Dreams and Death Works: Up in the Gallery, A Hunger Artist I connected two stories that took place in the circus. The man s daydream becomes the performance of the lady of his dream An artist fasted in a cage for spectators, and not even death could stop him from continuing his performance. To achieve artistic excellence is to sacrifice one s life - this is the story of Kafka s life. Footnotes: (1) G. Janouch, Conversations with Kafka, trans. G. Rees, 2nd edn., New York, New Directions Books, 1971, p.63. (2) F. Kafka, The Metamorphosis and Other Stories, trans. D. Freed, New York, Barnes & Noble Books, 2003, p.7. (3) G. Janouch, Conversations with Kafka, trans. G. Rees, 2nd edn., New York, New Directions Books, 1971, p

17 The Cast of Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka Talks about Kafka The devising actors of the Hong Kong premiere of Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka Hong Kong premiere in 2008 researched on Kafka s biography, love, and works. Here are some of their thoughts. (Originally published in the Education Kit accompanying the premiere of the piece in Hong Kong.) How would you make a choice when you are having difficult times in both career and love life? Nowadays it is common to read on the newspaper about suicides related to career and relationship problems. There s nothing to live for, why not just end one s life! But there was Kafka from 1883, who had been strictly disciplined by his father, his writings did not win his recognition, his two engagements went in vain due to his father s health issues, had considered committing suicide. In late 1911, while Kafka s father was seriously ill, his friend Brad sent out an urgent notice to his mother, warning her about this thin thread in his mind that left him very near suicide. While Kafka was in critical condition himself, whether he chose death or alive remains a popular issue among academia, which I could not make any simple deduction. But I would like to share a saying by Kafka, All human errors are impatience, a premature breaking off of methodical procedure, an apparent fencing-in of what is apparently at issue. (Extracted from Little K s Castle by Kan Lap Keung) Kafka did not really want Brad to publish his works because he saw his works a way of expressing himself, while Brad insisted these works were well-written. Therefore Kafka put down a shared joke between him and Brad in his will, i.e. no matter which among the two died first, the other would need to burn all his manuscripts. In the end, Brad did not follow Kafka s last words and shared his talents to the rest of the world. After reading his biography Kafka, I asked myself whether I could be like Brad, did whatever things selflessly to make Kafka the greatest writer while leaving his own ambition as a writer behind. I m not quite sure I could be like him, how about you? (Extracted from Witnessing Friendship from Brad and Kafka by Fong Ho Yin) 15

18 Complete metamorphism is a biological term referring to insect development which includes four life stages as an embryo or egg, a larva, a pupa and an imago or adult. Butterflies and rhinoceros beetles go through these stages. The most fascinating development occurs at the pupa stage, during which the insect stops eating and become immobile. Inside the pupa the insect struggles to become adults, hoping that one day they can break out and find freedom in a new world. Franz Kafka said, There are two choices, be yourself, or be happy with the way it is. The latter is a kind of wish fulfilment, and so is lazy. The former is a starting point, and so is active. I believe that Kakfa chose the former. He waited inside the cocoon, and becoming an adult insect was his greatest motivation. (Extracted from Kafka s Complete Metamorphosis by Eric Leung Chi Chung.) To him, writing was as essential as water and air, and his whole life was devoted to literature, and I think if anyone made him give it up, his life would collapse. For Kafka, writing was the most important thing. In his diaries, he once related an example when he was dictating a document in his office. He stopped when he was near the end, because he could not think of the right word. In the end: I finally found the word, denounce, and completed the whole sentence, but I still felt a sense of disgust and shame, and kept the words inside without letting them out, as if they were a piece of raw meat, a piece of meat taken from my own body (such was my sense of exhaustion.) I finally said the words, which surprised me. Every part of my being is in preparation for literature, this type of work is a heavenly release and true vitality of life. At the office, I was forced to cut a piece of meat from this body that has the potential to receive such happiness, just for the sake of an official document. For Kafka, if he was not able to come up with what he considered the perfect phrase, if he could not use words to adequately convey what he thought and felt, he felt so pained that it was like a piece of meat taken from his body. It is apparent from this incident how passionate he was about writing. (Extracted from Nice to meet you, Kafka by Au Pui Ying.) 16

19 In everyone s experience of growing up, they unconsciously come face to face to this feeling, which is part pressure and part motivation and originates from our parents, most of whom wish for their children to become successful. For men, such pressure comes from their fathers more so than their mothers. For Kafka, who was born in the 19 th century, the pressure and motivation was even greater. If he did not have his father, he would not have written the short story The Judgment, nor Letter to His Father, which reads more like a sociology, ethics, child psychology, education and literature treatise than a letter. One can tell that his father had a profound effect on Kafka s life. (Extracted from Half Strength by Desmond Lai Ho Yin.) He was more true to artistic creation than to any girl. And what he sought was a companion that would go along with him on his creative journey. Whenever he felt that there is no way out of a relationship (which meant finding new stimulation or breaking up and moving on), he could not complete his work. [ ]Kafka s real lover was his writings because they accompanied him his whole life. He expected his friend Max Brod to burn his novels and letters after his death, as if wanting his life and his writing to be turned into ashes. (Extracted from Kafka s Lovers by Gladys Wong.) The German writer Bertolt Brecht had said, If art reflects life, it does so with special mirrors. This time, we use psychological state and style as the starting point, with actors paying close attention to the characters state of mind, a technique that we gathered from our experience with past performances. Through specially designed action, tone of voice, rhythm, etc., such as twitching, murmuring whispering and laughter, we examine the characters states of being. Combined with the imagery and atmosphere designed by the director, we build up a special performance style. As a performance group taking part in an artistic creation, we seek to develop a performance form and style that is unique to us. Even though this is an ongoing effort and we have not quite succeeded, it is still undergoing metamorphosis, and I eagerly await the moment when we emerge fully formed. (Extracted from Actors suffering from Kafka syndrome perform a Kafka work by Chan Shui Yu.) 17

20 Keywords Drama Drama can be defined simply as a story acted out by actors. It is a historical artistic form with its earliest appearances in Egypt, Greece, China, India, and other ancient civilisations. Drama originates from communal activities like sacrificial rituals, ceremonies, and celebrations that serve as entertainment to people and deities. After undergoing a series of social changes, technological evolution, and experimental reforms endeavored by professionals in the industry, drama has taken the seventh spot of the top ten arts. Devising Theatre It is a creative collaboration among directors and actors, who gradually devise the script through rehearsals, creating a powerful theatrical performance that usually combines body movements, music, lighting, stage dimensions, and other elements. Existentialism Existentialism is a wave of philosophical thought popular from the late 19 th Century to mid- 20 th Century led by French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, who asserted the idea of existence precedes essence, meaning that the nature of human existence is not controlled by any preexisting factors (such as predetermined fate); it is created by our own thoughts, actions, livelihood, and perception. Absurdist Fiction Kafka s works have always been categorised as absurdist fiction. It is a genre of modern literature, heavily influenced by existentialist and nihilist movements, and was most popular from the late 19 th Century to early 20 th Century. Absurdist fiction tends to employ a meaningless or ridiculous event as the backdrop, against which the characters responses or the development of that particular event is narrated, inspiring readers to put forward philosophical discussions and questions on topics like the meaning of existence. 18

21 Questions for Reflections 1 In Seven Boxes possessed of Kafka, each of the boxes carries a different story by Kafka with a specific theme and symbolic representation. Which box or boxes is/are the memorable to you? Why? 2 (For Junior Secondary School Students) The third box Box of Animals Part II talks about The Metamorphosis by Kafka, in which the protagonist wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect. A. If you were the protagonist, what would you do? B. If you were the protagonist s sister, would you try to get rid of the protagonist at all costs? Or would you have reacted differently, or taken an alternative approach? C. Which is easier to get along with, animals or humans? Why? 3 (For Senior Secondary School Students) In the second box Box of Punishment, there is an extraordinary execution machine. The Officer stresses that the accused must experience physically the judgement he has been given, instead of merely listening to it in the form of a statement. A. Do you think the Officer s behaviour is reasonable? B. The Officer executes himself in the end. What do you think are his motives? C. Confession and execution by torture still exist in today s society. Analyse how physical punishments limit and control individual conduct. 4 (For Tertiary Students) Kafka s works possess a unique worldview, posing various kinds of sharp questions on city life and the meaning of human existence. These works were written about a hundred years ago; try using those viewpoints and questions to reconsider the different issues in the society that we are living in right now. 19

22 JOCKEY CLUB New Arts Power Education Kit for Seven Boxes Possessed of Kafka Participating Art Group: Alice Theatre Laboratory Publisher: Hong Kong Arts Development Council Editor: Cultural Connections Design: Bingo Communication Co. Key Visual Design: 蔣可為 Photography: 唐健哲 Hair Style: Salon Go Ahead Date: September 2017 All right reserved. Reproduction is prohibited unless consent from copyright owners is obtained. 20