I, Josef (5pm on Friday Sept 6)

Heavy footsteps, an abrupt shout, muffled voices, rustling papers, a gavel’s clack, the city's hum, eerie silences, a ringing phone, sharp whispers, a cacophony of machinery, a jarring telephone ring, frantic scribbling, clang of a metal gate, a helpless scream... An unresolved fate.

I, JOSEF is an immersive binaural audio and multimedia installation that invites the audience to step into the shoes of Franz Kafka’s most well-known character, who is inexplicably arrested and put on trial for an unspecified crime. 

This adaptation of Kafka’s Der Prozess (The Trial) is re-imagined through a unique first-person perspective that transports the listener into K’s unfathomable world through binaural audio, offering a three-dimensional immersive sonic and visual experience. Audiences are invited to enter a dark room and put on state-of-the-art headphones, placing them at the heart of the narrative and entangling them in the labyrinthine mind of Josef K as if the action were unfolding in their own consciousness.

🗓️ Dates and Time:

• Friday 6th September (at 4pm, 5pm, 6pm and 7pm)
• Saturday 7 September 2024 (at 10am, 11am, 12pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm and 7pm)

🎟️ Tickets and Registration: Free entry with prior registration on bit.ly/ijosef67 (Kaivalya Plays website). Only 30 audience members in every slot – please arrive 10 mins before your slot time. Unclaimed slots may be given out to walk-in registrations. 

🗣️ Language: Available in English and German, audience members can switch between the two. 

⏱️ Duration: 45 minutes (approx.)

📍 Location: Siddhartha Hall at Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi, 3 Kasturba Gandhi Marg.

Presented by Kaivalya Plays in collaboration with the Goethe Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi to celebrate #100YearsKafka, this headphone theatre production is a thought-provoking theatrical experiment and unique auditory odyssey into Kafka’s world that confronts absurdity, dread, guilt, isolation, powerlessness, and the human condition at large.

ℹ️  Please note: This experience includes the use of a fog machine, which may cause discomfort for individuals with respiratory conditions, asthma, or sensitivity to smoke and haze. The experience is accessible for wheelchair users, please let us know in advance so we can assist you better by writing in to contact@kaivalyaplays.org with questions, clarifications or any other relevant information. 

CREATIVE TEAM

• Directed and designed by Gaurav Singh Nijjer
• Script and adaptation by Varoon P. Anand
• Voiceovers by Paul Heeren, Matthias Dünnwald, Marta Kübler, Kriti Pant, Varoon P. Anand, Gaurav Singh Nijjer and others.
• Production by Kaivalya Plays

We would like to acknowledge Aarushi Khanna, Anja Riedeberger, Farah Batool, Abhyudai Dhawan and the staff of the Goethe-Institut New Delhi for their immense support and guidance in realizing this project.

ABOUT KAIVALYA PLAYS

Kaivalya Plays is a performing arts and production company led by Varoon P. Anand as its Artistic Director and Gaurav Singh Nijjer as its General Manager. Since 2012, they have built transcultural associations across India and the world. Their artistic work includes original, devised theatre performances that are multilingual, interactive, and hybrid, use technology and media on stage, and are built using techniques of improvisational, documentary, and physical theatre. Through a focus on education, training and community, their work spans diverse offerings of programs across artistic development, language learning, mental health, gender, accessibility, and transcultural collaboration. They have received multiple artistic commissions and grants through their collaborations with Instituto Cervantes Nueva Delhi, Goethe Institut Delhi, MediaFutures and other cultural partners. Their recent artistic work includes I, Josef (2024), The Pillowman (2024) ABSURDO (2023), Mining Hate (2023), Funes The Memorious (2021), Lifeline 99 99 (2021), Unravel (2019), amongst others. Most recently, they were awarded the Creativity Pioneers Fund 2023 by the Moleskine Foundation. Read more at kaivalyaplays.org

ABOUT GOETHE-INSTITUT / MAX MUELLER NEW DELHI

The Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany with a global reach. They promote knowledge of the German language abroad and foster international cultural cooperation. They convey a comprehensive picture of Germany by providing information on Germany's cultural, social and political life. The Goethe-Institut in New Delhi like all the other institutes in India, is known as Max Mueller Bhavan – in honour of Max Müller (1823-1900), a scholar of comparative religion and co-founder of modern Indian studies. The institute offers language courses, organises cultural events and has a modern and well-equipped library. Read more at goethe.de/india