Joseph K

Comedian Tom Basden's stage version of Kafka's 'The Trial' wrenches the story out of the bureaucratic warrens of Eastern Europe and deposits it somewhere equally awful: the touchy-feely world of New Labour-era Britain. As in the book, uptight banker Joseph K (Pip Carter) is arrested on his thirtieth birthday for reasons unknown.

Basden's production offers hints as to why this might have happened, but the only thing that's indisputable is that everyone is terribly nice to him, from shadowy agent Gabriel (shambolic-looking comedian Tim Key, very entertaining in a variety of roles here) who couldn't be more apologetic as he informs K of his arrest, to the cringe-inducing Dan, a right-on but useless customer complaints centre worker who claims to possess 'an HND in empathy'. Basden crafts rib-tickling naturalistic dialogue (an argument about takeaway sushi is golden) and sets up some beautifully weird set-piece gags, such as K's attempt to use an inane CD-ROM guide to the law.

The play is strongest at its most plausible, when K's life appears to be being torn apart by a combination of clerical error and a bovine lack of initiative in the people who should be helping him. Some of the book's more magical realist moments - Gabriel being whipped - don't fit so well, and Basden could have been a bit freer in adapting the plot. But for the most part it works, and if there have been more powerful adaptations of 'The Trial', few have been funnier.