: Alan Bennett
: Two Kafka Plays Kafka's Dick& The Insurance
: Faber& Faber
: 9780571301218
: 1
: CHF 7.80
:
: Theater, Ballett: Allgemeines, Nachschlagewerke
: English
: 160
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: ePUB
'You have to keep your ears open for Alan Bennett's Insurance Man. It had visual impact so powerful that you were in danger of missing some very good lines simply because nobody spoke them in close up; you had to catch them on the wing. And if there was one line that summed up both Bennett's play and Kafka's novel The Trial, which provided some of this framework, that line was 'Just because you're the injured party, it doesn't mean you're not guilty'.' Guardian Kafka himself figures in these two brilliant scripts: one a hilarious comedy, the other a profound and searching drama. This edition includes an introduction by Alan Bennett.

ALAN BENNETT has been a leading dramatist since Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His works for stage and screen include Talking Heads, Forty Years On, The Lady in the Van, A Question of Attribution, The Madness of George III, an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows, The History Boys, The Habit of Art, People, Hymn, Cocktail Sticks and Allelujah! His collections of prose are Writing Home, Untold Stories (PEN/Ackerley Prize, 2006) and Keeping On, Keeping On. Six Poets contains Bennett's selection of English verse, accompanied by his commentary. His fiction includes The Uncommon Reader and Smut: Two Unseemly Stories., Alan Bennett has been one of our leading dramatists since the success of Beyond the Fringe in the 1960s. His television series Talking Heads has become a modern-day classic, revived for the BBC during the exceptional circumstances of the 2020 lockdown, including two new monologues, published as Two Besides. His many works for the stage include Forty Years On, The Lady in the Van (together with the screenplay), A Question of Attribution, The Madness of George III (together with the Oscar-nominated screenplay The Madness of King George), and an adaptation of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. At the National Theatre, London, The History Boys (also a screenplay) won numerous awards including Evening Standard and Critics' Circle awards for Best Play, an Olivier for Best New Play and the South Bank Award. On Broadway, The History Boys won five New York Drama Desk Awards, four Outer Critics' Circle Awards, a New York Drama Critics' Award, a New York Drama League Award and six Tonys. Also at the National, The Habit of Art, People, Hymn and Cocktail Sticks. Allelujah! premiered at the Bridge Theatre, London. His collections of prose are Writing Home, Untold Stories (PEN/Ackerley Prize, 2006) and Keeping On Keeping On. Bennett's selection of English verse, accompanied by his commentary is published in Six Poets, Hardy to Larkin. His lockdown diaries, published as House Arrest, was a Sunday Times bestseller. Fiction includes The Uncommon Reader, Smut: Two Unseemly Stories and another Sunday Times bestseller, Killing Time.

SCENE ONE


The date is immaterial, though it is around 1919.KAFKA, a tall, good-looking man is sitting in a chair, dying.MAX BROD, his friend, is smaller, slightly hump-backed, and very much alive.

KAFKA: Max.

BROD: I hoped you were sleeping.

KAFKA: Max.

(Pause.)

BROD: What?

KAFKA: I think I shall die soon.

(BRODsays nothing.)

Did you hear me, Max?

BROD: Let’s cross that bridge when you come to it. You’ve said you were dying before.

KAFKA: I know. But I won’t let you down this time, I promise.

BROD: Kafka, I want you tolive.

KAFKA: Forgive me. If I die …

BROD: What’s this if? He says he’s dying then suddenly it’s ‘if’. Don’t you mean ‘when’?

KAFKA: When I die I want you to do me a favour.

BROD: Come to the funeral, you mean? Look, this is Max, your best friend. I’ll be up there in the front row.

KAFKA: No. The funeral can take care of itself.

BROD: Pardon me for saying so, but that’s typical of your whole attitude to life. A funeral does not take care of itself.

KAFKA: (Overlapping) I know, Max. I know.

BROD: Take the eats for a start. You’re dealing withgrief-stricken people. They want to be able to weep secure in the knowledge that once you’re in the grave the least they’ll be offered will be a choice of sandwiches.

KAFKA: But after the funeral … this is very important … I want you to promise me something, Max. You must burn everything I’ve ever written.

BROD: No.

KAFKA: Stories, novels, letters. Everything.

BROD: What about the royalties?

KAFKA: I’ve published one novel and a few short stories. Does it matter?

BROD: But where would they go in a bereavement situation?

KAFKA: My father, where else? Which is another reason to burn them. I’ve got stuff in technical periodicals to do with my work at the insurance company. Don’t worry about that …

BROD: But the rest I burn, right?

KAFKA: Yes.

BROD: That is your honest decision?

KAFKA: Cross my heart and hope to die.

BROD: That’s not saying much; you are going to die.

KAFKA: Max, Imean it. All my works burned. Understand?

BROD: All your works burned.

KAFKA: Everything. When I go, they go. Finish.

BROD: You’ve got it. Message received and understood.

(Pause.)

KAFKA: Where are you going?

BROD: To buy paraffin.

KAFKA: Max. Stay a minute. After all, my writings are worthless. They wouldn’t survive anyway. They don’t deserve to survive.

(Pause.)

Don’t you think so?

BROD: You’re the one who’s dying. I’m Max, your faithful friend. You say burn them, I burn them. (Going again) Maybe I’ll get petrol instead.

KAFKA: Max! (Pause.) If you want to read them first, feel free … just to remind you.

BROD: (Going again) No. I read them when you wrote them. If I’m going to burn them I may as well press on and burn them. Only …

KAFKA: (Brightening) What?

BROD: Well, I ask myself, are we missing an opportunity here? Why not juice up the occasion? … Ask one or two people over, split a bottle of vino, barbecue the odd steak then as a climax to the proceedings flambé the Collected Works? Anyway, old friend, don’t worry. All will be taken care of.

KAFKA: Good. Still, if in fact you can’t get hold of all my stuff, no matter. Some of it has been published. It could be anywhere.

BROD: You’re kidding. I mean, what are we saying here? This is your f