by Alan Bennett (Author)
This hilarious and unusual play satirizes the ridiculous propensity we often have to show less interest in an artist's work than in meaningless details of his private life, such as his sex life. It begins with Kafka near the end of his life making his famous request to his friend Max Brod that his works be burned at his death. We then flash forward to the present, where Kafka fanatic Sydney, an insurance salesman, is laboring away at an article on Kafka for 'Small Print; The Journal of Insurance Studies'. Who should miraculously appear but Kafka himself, followed closely by Brod and finally by Kafka's father, who wants to vindicate himself to posterity. The penultimate scene takes place in Heaven, where Kafka observes: "I'll tell you something. Heaven is going to be hell."