Hunter Returns to Stage with Monkey at Young Vic

Kafka’s Monkey, a one-woman adaptation of Franz Kafka’s ironic short story A Report to an Academy, premiered at the Young Vic’s Maria studio from 22 March (previews from 14 March) to 9 April 2009 and has since toured internationally.

Running for 45-minutes Walter Meierjohann‘s production sees a former ape, Red Peter – so named because of a red scar caused by a gunshot wound – address the audience as “esteemed members of the academy”.

Hunter’s theatre credits include The Diver at Soho Theatre, Yerma at the Arcola and Peter Brook’s Fragments at the Young Vic. She won an Olivier award in 1990 for playing the millionairess in Friedrich Durrenmatt’s The Visit at the National Theatre. Her film credits include appearances in Mike Leigh’s All or Nothing and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. As a director her credits include Othello with the RSC, The Birds for the National and Pericles at Shakespeare’s Globe.

An artistic associate with the RSC since 2008, Hunter joined the long ensemble in January 2009 and starred in Antony and Cleopatra (opposite Darrell D’Silva) and King Lear as the Fool. In a joint statement released by Hunter and RSC artistic director Michael Boyd on 20 January this year she resigned from the ensemble saying “we have not been able to achieve together the full range of ambitions that we shared.”

Colin Teevan‘s plays and translations have been premiered at the National Theatres of Scotland, Ireland and Great Britain. His recent play The Lion of Kabul was produced as part of the Tricycle’s Great Game: Afghanistan which toured to the Pentagon. A regular collaborator with directors Hideki Noda, Peter Hall and actors Clare Higgins and Greg Hicks, Teevan worked with Kathryn Hunter on The Bee at the Soho Theatre in 2006.

Director Walter Meierjohann’s recent directing credits include Tarell Alvin McCraney’s In the Red and Brown Water at the Young Vic and Leicester Curve’s production of All My Sons. Meierjohann was artistic director of the Contemporary International Line of The Dresden State Theatre from 2004 to 2007 and his short film Dear Anna starring Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni is currently in post-production.

Kafka’s Monkey is designed by Steffi Wurster, with costume by Richard Hudson, sound by Nikola Kodjabashia and movement by Ilan Reichel.