‘Trial’ resolves nothing, leaves verdict to audience

Interesting enough to draw a nearly full house and strange enough to drive a few of them away mid-show, Theatre of the People’s “The Trial” raised many questions about justice but gave few answers when it opened Friday.

The show began on a black-and-white set with the arrest of Josef K, who is accused of a crime that is never explained. The officers who arrested K stationed themselves at either side of the stage, which was enclosed in a cage, periodically heckling K and attempting to provoke the audience.

The show illustrated K’s downward spiral after the accusation, with K calling on the audience at times for help. The audience rarely responded to his pleas. When it came time for his verdict, the audience became the jury and sentenced K to his demise.

Typical theater conventions were broken down when a man was literally both dog and lawyer, a bank employee chirped and a judge spanked two men with a dead horse.

Sophomore Farrell Paules said the strangeness of the play was appropriate for Theatre of the People.

“I’ve read Kafka before, and TOP and Kafka are a good fit,” Paules said.

Another audience member, sophomore Rebecca Johnstone, said the style is typical
for the theater company but is usually “not quite this existential.”

“I think this is the best thing they’ve done,” Johnstone said.

Not everyone found the show so entertaining. A noticeable chunk of the audience was missing after intermission.

Director David Nosko said he noted the absence of a “whole row of professors.”

“Some folks find it very difficult to accept change and especially with the way a novel is everybody is free to imagine whatever,” Nosko said. “It’s a balance of trying to stay true to the writer and trying to make it theatrical.”

“The Trial” was sophomore Aimee Stanton’s first TOP production, but she plans to attend more.

“What was really interesting to me was how, even though there was one scene going on, there was another scene going and another scene over there,” Stanton said. “It was interesting to say the least.”