Review: REPORT TO THE ACADEMY at Old Red Lion Theatre until 30 July 2022

‘A short, sardonic, bitter story that comes alive in this telling of it’ ★★★ ½

Out of the blackout, to the echoes of a cane on the floor, an actor emerges – crumpled suit, red shirt, battered Homburg hat. He paces on a bare stage, with nothing but a chair, a lectern, and a big banner proclaiming ‘Report to an Academy’ in big red letters, and delivers his report. Kafka’s short story tells of an ape, hunted in West Africa, shot, transported on a cargo-ship to Europe, who discovers that alcohol gives him the power of speech, which he uses to become a performer in a Variety Theatre rather than the inmate of a zoo.

Effectively adapted by the director, Gabriele Jakobi, Robert McNamara tells the story with wit and style and the dramatic application of his walking stick. He shows the narrowness of the distance between human and ape, and makes it plain that all the advantages don’t belong to his human shape. The ape makes a distinction between Freedom and A Way Out – his adoption of human attributes doesn’t grant him the freedom he experienced as an ape, it grants him a way out of confinement. Mr McNamara plays that distinction tellingly. It’s a short, sardonic, bitter story that comes alive in this telling of it.

Photography:  J. Yi Photography

REPORT TO THE ACADEMY

presented by SCENA Theatre Co

at Old Red Lion Theatre

5th - 30th July 2022

Tues – Sat 7.30pm, Saturday matinee at 3pm

Box Office: https://www.oldredliontheatre.co.uk/ReporttoanAcademy.htlm

Twitter: @SCENATHEATRE

Reviewed by Chris Lilly