‘Someone must have slandered Josef K, for one morning, without having done anything wrong, he was arrested.’ This is the famous opening line of Franz Kafka’s novel Der Prozess (The Trial). Gottfried von Einem’s opera of the same name also begins with this mysterious arrest. Josef K. suddenly finds himself in a world he cannot understand, faced with an accusation of which he knows nothing but which seems perfectly clear to everyone else and yet remains inexplicable; with an absurd court case that nevertheless follows strict rules; with an arrest that appears to have no effect on his life yet still leads to his death. Is Josef K. the victim of a conspiracy, or is his belief in a conspiracy the only chance of explaining an incomprehensible world?
as Josef K.
as The woman
as Franz / The factory owner / The priest
as Willem / The lawyer
as The inspector / The chief clerk of the court
as The student / Titorelli / 1st young man
as The court usher / The passer-by / 2nd young man
as The examining magistrate / Uncle Albert / 3rd young man
as Kafka
