Open Call: Oklahama at the Markgrafentheater: Kafka's World Comes Alive
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Open Call: Oklahama: Kafka's Abyssal Promise on Stage
A call for belonging echoes through the Markgrafentheater: In Open Call: Oklahama, Karl Roßmann encounters the seemingly limitless promise of the natural theater of Oklahama. Everyone is welcome, everyone is needed – yet behind this promising invitation lurks a world full of contradictions.
An American Dream Running Backwards
Based on Franz Kafka's fragment from the novel America, the production tells the story of a young immigrant whose path through the American labor world leads further downwards. Karl Roßmann tries to become part of a game whose rules remain hidden from him. The dream of work, meaning, and societal recognition transforms into a Kafkaesque test.
Absurd Comedy and Political Present
Director Tomas Schweigen develops a deeply humorous stage experience from Kafka's unfinished text. Hair-raising situations, repetitive announcements, dance, and ritualized toasts come together in a production that swings between slapstick, bureaucratic critique, and existential uncertainty.
The dramaturgy exposes the grand promises of the modern world: belonging, ascent, and a place within the fabric of society. Precisely because the stage offers no safe resolution, a peculiar tension arises between hope and distrust.
Colorful Constriction at the Markgrafentheater
Scenery, costumes, and video by Stephan Weber shape a colorful yet constricted world. The acoustics, music by Martin Gantenbein, and the precisely directed acting of the ensemble condense the theater atmosphere into a space where every promise can suddenly tip over.
Lena Drieschner, Tobias Graupner, Vera von Gunten, Luca Hass, Johannes Rebers, and Silvester von Hößlin or Ralph Jung carry this contradictory world with great ensemble harmony. The press highlighted the connection between absurd bureaucracy, hope, and the search for belonging. Kafka’s fragment thus becomes the starting point of a mad journey through our desires.
A Compact Theater Evening Without Intermission
The performance lasts about 1 hour and 10 minutes and takes place without intermission. The audience can expect a concentrated production of contemporary stage art that does not view Kafka in a museum-like fashion, but extends his questions into the present: Who is allowed to belong? What rules govern our path? And how much truth is there in an open promise?
Conclusion: Kafka Live Between Hope and Abyss
Open Call: Oklahama promises an intense stage experience between grotesque comedy, political sharpness, and emotional unrest. Those who want to experience Kafka's world as theater atmosphere and discover a distinctive directorial work with strong imagery will find an evening full of riddles, rhythm, and resonance at the Markgrafentheater.
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