The Trial
Young Vic, London SE1
2/5

RUNNING at two hours without interval in a remarkably transformed yet stuffy Young Vic, this indulgent production of The Trial does not live up to expectations.

They were undoubtedly high, considering the Young Vic’s recent track record of producing high-quality revivals of classic works — A Streetcar Named Desire and A View From The Bridge to name just two.

Unlike Franz Kafka’s novel, neither of those texts required adaptation which is where the fundamental flaw of this production lies.

Nick Gill’s erratically episodic script attempts to takes us inside the mind of the protagonist, Josef K.

In Kafka’s original, he’s arrested one morning for an unspecified crime and then enters a nightmare world of oppressive and overly bureaucratic legal procedure before being executed a year later, a death sentence he passively accepts.

Much of the nuance is lost in Nick Gill’s adaptation, which employs a series of disjointed monologues throughout: “ee musten proclaim im innocent, an im put all facts before ee judge, im wrong arrest, an all be done,” being one example of the verbal diarrhoea.

Luckily, the actor charged with delivering these frustratingly pedestrian utterances is the supremely talented Rory Kinnear. Somehow, he manages to find a severely fractured rhythm within them that allows him to orally convey K’s decline with unnerving clarity.

Even more impressive is his physicality as he navigates Miriam Buether’s intensely lit conveyer-belt set with awesome technique.

There is an almost dance-like quality to certain sequences as he and his fine fellow cast members mark the transitions between the increasingly repetitive scenes.

Particularly outstanding is Kate O’Flynn, who almost upstages Kinnear with a series of teasingly comical cameos.

Yet, despite such fine acting, there’s little emotional connection with any of the characters at any point in the play.

There is much to admire in the technical audacity of this version of The Trial but, as you leave the theatre, you cannot help but feel relieved that the ordeal is over.

Runs until August 22, box office: youngvic.org