Dublin Fringe Festival 2026: Kafka's Doll

Kafka's Doll by Theatre Lovett. Image Alisa Iakimanskaia

****

They say never let truth get in the way of a good story. The same might be said of theatre. The story in question claiming that in 1924, seeing a young girl crying in a park having lost her doll, Franz Kafka wrote her a series of letters purportedly from the missing doll. Letters recounting adventures from the doll who had decided to travel the world. Kafka, approaching death, presented the young girl with a new doll whose differences, he claimed, were the result of her travels. The girl apparently bought it. The story subsequently alleging that, many years later, the young girl, now a young woman, found a note from Kafka tucked inside the doll:

"Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way."

A lovely story, but most likely untrue. Current evidence suggesting it was likely spread by Kafka's lover, Dora Diamant. The story providing the foundation for Frances Kay's problematic Kafka's Doll. Presented by Theatre Lovett, themes of transformation and metamorphosis loom large. But Kay's stories-within-a-story comes in a distant second to Theatre Lovett's scrumptiously gorgeous theatricality.

From its signature programme to Jamie Vartan's wonderland set, from Nicole Clifford and Theatre Lovett's pink/red, black/grey snappy costumes to Susan Crawford's gorgeously detailed props, from Nico Brown's atmospheric compositions to Carl Kennedy's superb sound design, from Sarah Jane Shiels' impeccable lighting to Alisa Iakimanskaia's extraordinary dolls, and not forgetting Cormac O'Connor's mood-darkening AV, Kafka's Doll is a visual, audial and theatrical tour de force. Its tone and textures steeped in German Expressionist cinema. Muireann Ahern and Louis Lovett's astute direction engaging with a Babel tower of theatrical languages. Cabaret, circus, street artistry, juggling, puppetry, opera, musical, slapstick, add your own. It's all there, wonderfully realised through four excellent performances from Lovett, Charlotte Cleary, Emely Tenhagen and Cormac Mohally. What isn't there is an engaging narrative through-line, or very much of either the little girl or Kafka.

If theatricality is astounding, Kay’s overwrought script coughs and sputters but fails to sustain life. Events relayed by direct address either sung, spoken or delivered in rhyming couplets. Inside of which three tales reside: one concerning the doll's trip to New York and her encounter with gangsters Delaroche and Robinson, the second about a Monkey King and the third referencing Kafka’s classic shorter story Metamorphosis. Yet through all the glorious slapstick and shenanigans the young girl is barely a sketch and Kafka even less so. Instead of characters we engage with actors performing caricature. And while wonderful to behold, it's not enough to pluck the heartstrings Kafka's Doll strives to play. Instead, we catch the occasional note, chord or phrase, but the song never quite materialises.

A cabaret act disguised as a play, Kafka's Doll never realises its story despite rich veins of humour and genuine sentiment. Yet its production values and performances are gorgeously, gloriously sumptuous. A work of intricate, richly textured detail, its heart pulses but never beats consistently with that propulsive force that blows you away. Still, Kafka's Doll is a joy to look at. Though dramatically weak, for those seeking a masterclass in theatrical excellence, you need look no further.

Kafka's Doll by Theatre Lovett, runs at The Peacock Stage of The Abbey Theatre as part of Dublin Fringe Festival 2026 until Sept 12.

For more information visit Dublin Fringe Festival 2026