Kafka For Beginners
★★★☆☆ Surrealist Satire
Braw Venues @ Hill Street (Venue 41): Fri 7 – Sun 30 Aug 2026
Review by Jenny Collins ★★★☆☆ Surrealist Satire
Julian Henry Lowenfeld’s Kafka for Beginners, directed here by Derek Douglas for Edinburgh Little Theatre, offers an entertaining anti-authoritarian satire for any festival-goer all too familiar with sighing when they check the news.
A nameless poet is imprisoned on stage. The corners of his cell are marked, but no walls are in sight. An authoritarian slogan remains televised throughout: Everything Not Forbidden is Compulsory, Everything Not Compulsory is Forbidden. Like its namesake, Kafka’s staged metaphor is blunt. Under authoritarianism, the boundary between a prisoner of conscience and a citizen just trying to keep their head down is about as vague as an invisible wall. Crossing over is effortless.
Reuben Foran-Gillespie. Pic Kafka for Beginners
Douglas has brought strong performances out of Lowenfeld’s heavy text for the play’s return for a second year at Braw Venues.
Reuben Foran-Gillespie is given one of the most challenging roles imaginable as the Poet, whose monologues make up the breadth of the work, and within them the character jumps from madness to insight to despair. Foran-Gillespie is able to keep up with ease. Ellen Publicover and Dashaun Vegas are also strong in the supporting roles, refusing to shy away from the Orwellian pantomime of their characters.
Lowenfeld’s script was inspired by real stories of prisoners of conscience and that dedication shines through. Kafka for Beginners functions as both a heartfelt ode and an artistic homage.
The sheer weight of Kafka’s themes – love, power, truth, justice, hope – can put this single act under strain. It’s clear that Lowenfeld has an appreciation for the prolific works of Beethoven, Pushkin, Shakespeare (to cite a few). But Kafka’s reverence for its artistic idols can hinder the original work from completely breaking free of its influences.
witty idiosyncrasies.
Otherwise, this dystopia is full of witty idiosyncrasies. Announcements from a public broadcaster punctuate scenes. Pre-recorded by Lowenfeld, he performs them with the cadence of a sped-up disclaimer bookending a dodgy advertisement. The fictional state’s national anthem, although well performed by young Anna Lowenfeld, is sadistically saccharine.
The show has a lot of people to thank for being brought to stage as a co-production with the MART foundation and executive production to Kenneth Pushkin’s nonprofit organisation Pushkin Legacy. Meanwhile the staging and performance itself is homegrown with work by Edinburgh Little Theatre and Derek Douglas’ Braw Venues.
Kafka For Beginners swings an anti-authoritarian punch to the gut at this year’s Fringe.
Running time: One hour (no interval).
Braw Venues @ Hill Street Theatre (Dunedin Theatre), 19 Hill Street EH2 3JP (Venue 41).
Friday 7 – Sunday 30 August 2026.
Daily (CAVEAT): 3.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here at EdFringe.com.
Tickets direct from venue: Book here.
Braw Venues website: brawvenues.com
Instagram: @kafkaforbeginnersplay
Ellen Publicover. Pic Kafka for Beginners
ENDS
