Duration: 55 min
Information: In English with German surtitles
The ape takes the floor. To explain why freedom was no longer an option. In Franz Kafka’s ‘Report to an Acade my’, it is Red Peter the ape who is doing the titular reporting. For him, conformity is a survival strategy – he describes learning as coercion, becoming human as loss. South African director Phala Ookeditse Phala and actor Tony Bonani Miyambo take this text at face value and, in their adaptation of Kafka’s Ape, write it into a body, into a present, into a story that clearly finds no peace. Their dramaturgically captivating stage study does not show an animal becoming human, but rather a human being who reveals the emotional violence inherent in this transformation. Language, posture, and movements are extracted from his body under pres sure. The body becomes legible, like a barcode. The audience witnesses what he learns to accept—and not to accept. What is sold as progress is thus ex posed as training. The report becomes an indictment.
From 18 June to 5 July 2026, Chemnitz will be in the international spotlight: Germany's largest international theatre festival "Theatre of the World" is coming to Chemnitz - directly following the Capital of Culture year 2025. For three weeks, Chemnitz will be a meeting place for artists, audiences and theatre enthusiasts from all over the world. A lively celebration of the performing arts will take place on stages, in urban spaces and in unusual locations, overcoming borders and bringing together stories from all parts of the world.
Nine international curators from Australia, Canada, Colombia, Argentina, South Africa, Greece, Jordan, India, Senegal and China are responsible for the festival programme. They will meet in Chemnitz in November to select around 40 outstanding productions - works that they have previously viewed in their regions. The result is an inspiring panorama of current theatre forms, languages and perspectives.
