Innocence review: Anmol Vellani’s unflinching retelling of Franz Kafka’s The Trial is a must watch

By Reema Gowalla

Rating: *** and a half

A century after his death, Franz Kafka’s nightmarish vision of an authoritarian state is probably becoming a reality. But that’s not the only takeaway from acclaimed theatre director and playwright Anmol Vellani’s Innocence. In this adaptation of The Trial, he masterfully captures the essence of Kafka’s parody of the legal system, without compromising on his own inventiveness. Not at any point the play feels difficult to decipher or unrelatable. Even amid the cracking of jokes, one can identify with the absurd state of affairs that Josef K, a bank employee, finds himself enmeshed in, as well as quickly draw parallels with what we see and hear about the justice system of our own country today.

The unfinished, posthumously published novel’s tension and intrigue are not flattened in Innocence, nor does it look like an out-of-place dramatic reinvention. Be it the subject matter or form, Innocence remains an unsanitized and unpretentious response to The Trial — a book that’s now often seen as a stupefying prescience. The eerie Kafkaesque charm (or despair!) never leaves the stage. It’s still a brutal staging, where K (Ashish D’abreo) is arrested on the morning of his 30th birthday without any specified crime. The two agents (Srinivas Beesetty and Manu Varkey) snatch his breakfast too, as they decode how in our free country, possessing an ‘Aadhaar Card’ and a case of ‘mistaken identity’ may be one and the same.

The court may remain open on a Sunday to hear a special case, but a magistrate judge “may not be at liberty to tell you on what charges you are arrested”. Being innocent wouldn’t be enough, if your “luck doesn’t hold up”. K is described as a “hungry, dishevelled and improperly attired garbage collector”, who dared to contradict the judge in an open court, questioning the high-handedness of law. And just like that his right to defend himself is casually denied. Rumours spread soon thereafter. K is “khatarnak”, they said. Why? Because he is a “deshdrohi”. But how does one come to that conclusion? The hint of the grave offence that “he is guilty of” may be found in the “food that he eats”, the “books that he reads” or even the “friends whose company he keeps”. K claims to be an honest banker, but who can say for sure that he is not involved in a covert sedition attempt? Thus, he must be watched and reprimanded.

The best thing about Anmol’s adaptation of the existential masterpiece is the language of the play. It’s eloquent yet hard-hitting, and never ceases to be contextual. Innocence is a black comedy that “takes the form of a conversation between the world of the novel and contemporary India”. For a story to remain so hauntingly relevant more than hundred years after it was written speaks volumes about Kafka’s prowess in creating paranoiac and bewildering dystopian worlds via his books. But it’s Anmol’s approach and treatment of the text that make Innocence a must watch. The play is not abstract but visceral. It doesn’t dwarf the tribulations of the protagonist with humour, but rather brings in a streak of empathy for a man who is unable to unravel the mystery behind his own crime and punishment. The dialogues are mostly in English, peppered with snappy one-liners in local dialect. The set, sound and light design (done by Rency Philip, Nikhil Nagaraj, Bharavi and Arun DT, respectively) complement the play’s mood and underlying themes. The actors’ costumes and makeup (handled by Vidyaa Masand, Garima Misra and Ramakrishna NK) deserve a special mention.

Coming to the characters, Ashish dazzles as K, by turns svelte and scruffy. Even amid the chaos of all the court summons, Ashish maintains a genteel and collected demeanour, which keeps you interested in the character. On the other hand, Sanjna Banerjee (as Leena) is a wave of much-needed vivacity and allure in the play. She essays the character of the cleaner-turned-caretaker with a lot of effervescence and wit. Dr Huld (played by Rohit Dave) may be tied to a wheelchair, but the actor compels you to sit up and take notice of this character; easily one of his best acts. Manu (as the ruthless guard and the limping painter) and Arvind Dev (as a rather skittish client of Dr Huld) impress with their quirky yet engaging performances. Meanwhile, ‘fatso’ Srinivas (who is also the play’s associate director) is easily the funniest man on stage. He amps up the play’s comedy quotient with his tongue-in-cheek style, complemented by his bushy eyebrows and greased side part hair. What’s also interesting is that there are no marginal characters in the play. Every role is thoughtfully fleshed out and enacted well, making the scenes nuanced and memorable.

You must watch this 135-minute piece for its explicitness, immediate relevance and timeless value. Speaking about the kind of response he anticipated, the writer-director told TheatreRoom in an exclusive before the premiere of Innocence earlier this year, “Some people may reject the play, saying that ‘oh, this is not Kafka’. If you go into another idiom, to another space and time, you’re going to lose Kafka. But you’re not going to lose everything. You can’t watch Innocence and not be able to say to yourself, ‘oh, I know where that comes from’. It’ll be clear.”

A cerebral and unflinching retelling of The Trial, Innocence has very few inconsistencies, as it tries to recreate the impact of the original text on stage using the “right idiom”. A very watchable play, Anmol’s Inncocence has a number of strong imperatives for the contemporary Indian audience to invest their time in.

A Toto Funds the Arts (TFA) production, Innocence is created in collaboration with Goethe-Institut/Max Mueller Bhavan Bangalore. The play was recently staged at Rangashankara, Bengaluru.