Orwell vs Kafka: The Trial

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Drama on 4: Orwell vs Kafka: The Trial

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BBC Radio 4 - Drama on 4, Orwell vs Kafka: The Trial

Josef K is arrested. But what was his crime?

Josef K is arrested. But what was his crime? A brand new adaptation of Kafka’s classic, by Ed Harris. Stars Iwan Rheon.

On the morning of his thirtieth birthday, Josef K is arrested. But his crime is not revealed. 

In attempting to establish his innocence, K steps into a nightmarish world of institutional absurdity he can’t escape.  

The most quintessentially ‘Kafkaesque’ of Kafka’s work, The Trial is a sinister satire, charting one man’s descent into self-destruction in the face of a society that has become a machine. This daring, debauched and darkly comic adaptation is written by award-winning dramatist Ed Harris. 


CAST (in order of appearance)
K ..... Iwan Rheon
Franz/Albert ..... Phil Davis
Willem/Magistrate ..... Lee Ross
Mrs Godbee ..... Nina Wadia
Eliška/Supervisor ..... Celeste Dring
Edmund ..... Rick Warden
Thrasher ..... Jason Barnett
Dr Huld ..... Adrian Scarborough
Leni ..... Gwyneth Keyworth
Block ..... Mark Heap

Dramatist ..... Ed Harris
Director ..... Anne Isger
Sound ..... Pete Ringrose and Keith Graham
Production Co-ordinators ..... Sara Benaim and Daniel Bishop
A BBC Studios Audio Production

With thanks to Abigail Le Fleming for playing the recorder.


Ed Harris is an award-winning dramatist and comedy writer. He has had over 20 audio plays broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4, as well as three series of his popular wartime sitcom, DOT. His work has won numerous awards including two Writers’ Guild Awards, a BBC Audio Drama Award and a Sony Gold/Radio Academy Award. His stage plays include STRANGERS LIKE ME (National Theatre Connections), MONGREL ISLAND (Soho Theatre), NEVER EVER AFTER (shortlisted for the Meyer-Whitworth Award) and WHAT THE THUNDER SAID (Theatre Centre). He is a current Royal Literary Fellow at Brighton University and Writer-in-Residence for the Oxford Kafka 2024 programme at Oxford University.

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