The play "K" is based on "The Trial" by Kafka. It was performed by Renaisstance Theatre Society. I'll consider it a flagship play, a fine play with an amazing ensemble.

The play was at 7 pm. I reached the Shri Ram Centre for Performing Arts early, collected the passes and waited. When everyone was let into the lobby, I saw the huge crowd waiting. SRC's lighting and ambience is warm, soft and comfortable(perhaps due to the absence of large bright lights and instead, the implementation of smaller lamps dispersed over the area) and I love being there.

The audience was let in according to schedule, by 6:55, and most got seated by 7:10.

Entering the theatre, a Synth loop played on repeat with a continuous, colourful, digital visual that seemed to hypnotize me. The set was moving, more specifically, the six women on the stage.

Three chairs, one on the right end of the stage and the others on the left end of it, were present. Black wooden chairs, they remind you of carpentry of the 20th century.

A bed near the right chair, a shelf and a hanger indicated it as a separate room than that of the person sleeping, on the centre stage on a bed, with a cuboidal box behind him. The six women surrounding him, moving, also had 7 men just beside them, albeit still, static, stopped in time.

When the third bell rang the women left slowly. The play was announced, the phones were asked to be silent, and applause welcomed the performance.

The lighting shifted, making it more bright and room-like than before. The men in trenchcoats and hats were quite near the bed of our slumbering character and they watched him with intent. He woke up in a rush, surprised, with good reason. The man stood on top of the bed, in a jumping manner as if he was trying to escape them. Already in his pants and a shirt, which, with just a pair of leather shoes, a dark coat, and maybe a tie, would have marked him as a corporate man. One of the men told him that he was under arrest, and he was Joseph K.

Joseph K was not scared, but was intrigued, why was he arrested, what is the cause of this arrest, and were these men individuals whomst he'd be convinced by? The dialogue flowed seamlessly back and forth with impact and the fat guard had eaten Joseph's breakfast, while his skinny partner asked K for money to buy breakfast for him.

Another man was going through the belongings of K, in the box behind. The men were in sync, working together effectively to make the operation appear like a genuine investigation.

The boss was sitting down in the room in the right, the guards telling K that they could not tell him the reason for his arrest, because they were not allowed to tell him, and moreover, they didn't even know what crime he had committed in order for him to be arrested by them, they didn't care and were only doing their jobs. The boss loudly and clearly says "JOSEPH KAY" from the other room as if his name itself was a crime, as if the neighbours wanted to know one of the inhabitants of the house, and maybe the boss liked the name very much and wanted to emphasize the K.

K started, looked at the guards which had eaten his breakfast and the guard who was about to take the money for his breakfast, and then headed for the other room, but talking to the boss requires formal wear, said the guard, so he must put on a coat, not a light one but a dark one. K went to the other room, naively asking the boss of the guards what he had done, telling him that the best strategy was to resolve the matter there and then. The boss liked to laugh, so he did at his immaturity, didn't he know? He was arrested and there's nothing he could have done about it. K knows that he is allowed to call his lawyer, but the boss does not seem interested and states that it wouldn't change anything. He does not call his lawyer. He is told that he can perform his daily tasks however he wishes and the arrest will not affect it. The men leave soon after this back and forth which was anxiously comical.

A lack of information and an excess of surprise for K was not enough to stop him from going back to his job, and coming back to flirt with his lodge mate.

After his first hearing, the timing of which was also not revealed to him, the absurdity of the play kicks in with full force and K gets first hand experience of the court. After the first hearing he is neither asked to the court nor sent any message. A trend of K slowly meeting new people who explain and reveal the layers of nightmarish legal system which he is trying to understand and oppose. As the play progresses he realizes how absurd the case is, and no matter what he learns and does, his case is going to last indefinitely. His hold on his Job is lost and even though his 'arrest' lets him do everything he wishes, he remains stagnant and suffers. The opaque crime is a sort of a MacGuffin which carries the intrigue and the story forward.

K. is a wonderful play which keeps you engaged and surrealism is a key element of it. Renaisstance Theatre Society has made this play wonderful, the lighting and visuals being on point and help the audience feel what K might feel. It is a worthy watch since Mohit Tripathi is an amazing Joseph K. and the large cast works together to create the environment and a world that is so confusing yet so fun to dive into.