Edinburgh Comedy Award multiple nominee Tom Parry is taking on Kafka for this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
Beetlemania – Kafka For Kids is created by Pappy’s Tom Parry and director Russell Bolam, who return to Edinburgh following their joint adaptation of Gogol’s Marriage.
The Czech author, known for such disorientating works as The Trial, The Castle and Metamorphosis, found his own stories hilarious, laughing so hard whilst reading the first chapter of The Trial aloud that he repeatedly had to stop to collect himself. However, “Kafka” and “funny” are not words that often sit side by side. People have a strong sense of the world he wrote about - the bureaucratic nightmares, the lack of explanation for events, the confusion about being the victim of circumstance - without actually having read any of his work. Tom and Russell are on a mission to bring both child children and adult children in on the joke.
Beetlemania is rife with music, laughter and mayhem whilst riffing off the short stories. With more than a hint of some of Kafka’s best-known titles, this offers entertainment for all the family without the existential angst...
Parry says: “It’s such an exciting challenge. There’s something dark and magical about the writing of Kafka that in many ways makes his work the perfect jumping off point for a comedy show that the whole family will be able to enjoy. We’re getting a superbly talented cast together who can’t wait to bring the show to life. I doubt Kafka has ever been approached in this way before!”
Russell Bolam trained at Middlesex University and GITIS Academy of Theatre Arts, Moscow. His directing credits including A Month of Sundays (Queen's Theatre Hornchurch), The Monkey (Theatre 503), Marriage (Assembly), The Titanic Orchestra (Pleasance Theatre), Uncle Vanya (St James Theatre), The Merry Wives of Windsor (Ivan Vazov), Cyrano de Bergerac, Crushed Shells and Mud, Three Sisters, The Seagull, Shivered (Southwark Playhouse) Ghost from a Perfect Place, In Skagway, The Road to Mecca (Arcola), The Roman Bath (Arcola Theatre / Ivan Vazov) Alfred (Vineyard Theatre) and Somersaults, Captain Oates’ Left Sock (Finborough) Three More Sleepless Nights, Fourplay (Tristan Bates Theatre), and The Physicists (Aphra Studio). His comedy directing includes shows with Edinburgh Comedy Award Nominees Pappy's and The Beta Males.
Tom Parry is an award winning comedian and writer. He has been nominated four times for the prestigious Edinburgh comedy award both for his solo work and as part of the legendary sketch group Pappys. He has written two series of the BBC3 sitcom Badults, his own Radio 4 series Fancy Dressed Life and an episode of ITV’s The Job Lot. He also wrote on the Bafta award winning children’s comedy Class Dismissed. Tom’s first feature film script Andy Christ is currently in pre-production with Bedlam Productions. He is a veteran director of comedy in Edinburgh- directing the award nominated Max & Ivan show The Reunion and several critically lauded shows by Birthday Girls, Beasts and The Sleeping Trees.
Beetlemania: Kafka for Kids! is at Pleasance Dome, Aug 1 - 26, 1.15pm. Tickets here.
