Acclaimed German director Gabriele Jakobi has adapted a classic Franz Kafka short story into a provocative drama featuring American actor/director Robert McNamara.
Report to an Academy centres on an intelligent ape, Red Peter, who gets captured in a West Africa hunting expedition and sent to Europe on a ship. On board, he endures excessive taunting and abuse. So, to effect his survival, Red Peter learns to mimic and imitate the ships crew and their language from his cage. By evolving to behave like a human being, Peter devises a brilliant escape. He survives and ultimately reaches civilization to present his fascinating tale of transformation"and the horrid details of his former ape life"to a leading Scientific Academy.
Robert McNamaras heartfelt performance brings a wild parable to life and compels patrons to ponder the social issues of free will, animal rights, and vegetarianism. Report was first staged to sold-out houses in Washington, DCs 2014 Capital Fringe Festival in the USA. Soon after, it toured Europe and was presented at the Prague Fringe Festival and at the English Theatre Berlin. Director Jakobi has enjoyed an illustrious career as a director in Germany, the Netherlands and the US. Her production of Heinrich von Kleists Penthesilea was declared "Best Production of the Year by Theater Heute, the major German theatre magazine. Jakobi also won best production at the Monoplay Festival in Kiel, Germany for Krapps Last Tape.