Ottawa Fringe 2012, Kafka’s nod to Darwin: A fascinating show
Kafka’s work is all about fears, obsessions, and nightmarish images of a man trying to navigate and understand a world that overpowers him, a world he cannot explain. If his hero (anti-hero?) of The Metamorphosis awakes one morning transformed into a giant bug, the “hero” of A Report to an Academy begins as an Ape and is slowly transformed into a semblance of a human being. A reversal of the first text? Possibly but the man reporting to the Academy has not made a completely successful transformation, and therein lies the rub. What interests Kafka here, is also the process of change. How does it take place and what does it show?
A text that is very disturbing, that is open to many interpretations because it is all of course symbolic, given the way Kafka’s universe unfolds as a literary projection of his own apparently tormented mind. Nevertheless a powerfully dramatic text that I discovered the other night, thanks to Glassiano Productions and the fine work of director Martin Glassford and his team.
What is going on here?
An “individual” comes loping out on stage wearing a tuxedo. He goes to the lectern, about to make a speech to the illustrious members of the Academy (don’t forget we are in Europe), the body where all the professionals of ones calling meet to listen to each other, decide the rules of one’s practice and make decisions affecting all the colleagues.
He says he will be telling us about his astounding trajectory from ape to man, in the most scientific terms. Kafka is giving a nod to Darwin but in a highly playful mode that serves his own purpose very well,
The first thing obvious in this production: the ape to man trajectory is not complete because he still looks like an ape, in fact if it were not for the fact that his speech is perfect, , we might not have believed his story at all. I wondered at that point if the ape-like make up wasn’t too much. We see from the outset that there is a problem. His dark facial markings that were inspired by Maori war paint and then modified, created a troubling relationship between humans and animals that gives much momentum to this show. However, he moves like an ape. He lopes, and bounces and leaps up on the lectern, he bangs his fingers and babbles intermittently, snorting and making “ape-like” noises. Sean Sonier creates his role beautifully but perhaps, much of the surprise is lost because right from the very moment he enters, we are aware of the contradiction he pretends to disregard, or even hide and there is a terrible irony throughout because of this.
He tells us of his capture, his life as a caged ape on a ship bringing him back home and how he began observing the behaviour of the crew and learning from them how to be human, eventually learning how to utter words and then how he became an avid pupil…extending his talents way beyond the ape culture until here he is , an honoured guest at the academy.
Many things could be said about the meanings that underlie this show but according to director Glassford’s vision of it, we see first of all that this ape learned to become human by observing and imitating the most animalistic behaviour of humans. The crew spits and drinks and fights and taunts and even tortures him. That is his human model and he plunges into it with enormous enthusiasm. Ironically, what salvages Red Peter (the name of the ape) is that something remaining of his animal instinct makes all that behaviour repulsive to him (especially the rum ) so that even if he must do disgusting things to appear human in order to survive, or to be “free” as he repeats, he hates every minute of it.
Then the ending brings an even more telling discovery. He is alone, he cannot find a human companion because the smell of humanity disgusts him. But then female chimpanzees repulse him just as much because he sees in their eyes the gaze of someone who has been broken down and captured, and that brings him back to his own origins which he cannot forget or even stomach. He is therefore not totally deluded. He is rather trapped in an in-between world where he cannot fit in, where he will never be assimilated. He is in a form of Hell that will never change. The ending is terrible because this ape has a soul!
I have seen films of this play in French where the actor first appears as perfectly human in a smart tuxedo, coming down the aisle, shaking hands with his colleagues, smiling as a well brought up academician. Little by little, the ape side of him betrays itself: a misplaced snort, a strange gesture. These “mistakes” soon overtake the actor and reveal the side of his animalness that he has not overcome.
Whichever way the character is interpreted, the text is so strong, and in this case, the actor Sean Sonier is also so strong, that clear meanings are unearthed . The sheer physicality of Sonier’s interpretation which takes us closer to the animal than to the human, is stunning and disturbing because it appears to contradict what he is telling us: he thinks he is human but we never fail to see just how deluded he is.
An excellent reading of this text that could indeed go very far with all the questions of identity, of ethnicity, of history and anything else you might want, embedded in the writing. An exciting performance by Sonier (who is also the husband in The Open Couple) that should not be missed.
A Report to an Academy plays at Venue 311.
Glassiano Productions
A Report to an Academy a Glassiano Production
Based on a short text by Franz Kafka
Directed by Martin Glassford
Stage Managed by Melanie Liatsis
Technical director Wesley Babcock
Starring. Sean Sonier