Bernard Bloch Brings Kafka to Life in "Après-midi, piscine" at Théâtre Essaïon

At the Théâtre Essaïon, actor and director Bernard Bloch performs seven lesser-known short stories by Franz Kafka, adopting the persona of an elegant clown in a 1920s Berlin cabaret atmosphere. The show, titled "Après-midi, piscine," plays at 7 PM, not in the afternoon as the title might suggest. Bloch, a Germanist and Kafka expert, appears in a white striped suit and poppy-red shirt as "Akfak," a friendly double of the writer, using humor and tragedy to explore the absurdity of our world. The seven stories include a swimming champion who cannot swim and does not understand the officials' language, a small woman who cannot stand others, an aging bachelor dying of loneliness, and a fasting champion carted around in a cage like a circus animal until spectators lose interest. Between each tale, a song in German or Yiddish and a drumbeat are performed. Kafka, who worked as a legal officer handling accident claims for a major insurance firm in Bohemia, was a fierce and tender observer of the early 20th century, and his short narratives are sketched with an agile and powerful pen. The performance reveals a lesser-known Kafka, both funny and heartbreaking, tender and caustic, and remains deeply relevant. The review is by Hélène Kuttner.