A COMEDY BY JULIAN HENRY LOWENFELD
A darkly comic allegory about truth, conscience, and the indomitable human spirit under the boot of authoritarianism — where the absurd is indistinguishable from the real, and survival itself becomes an act of defiance.
Dedicated to the memory of dissident Alexei Navalny
In 1633, the famed astronomer Galileo Galilei was tried by the Holy Inquisition of the Roman Catholic Church on "vehement suspicion of heresy." Just thirty years earlier, the Inquisition had burned poet and philosopher Giordano Bruno at the stake for daring to espouse his belief that the universe is infinite. After a lengthy trial, Galileo was ordered, on pain of death by torture, to "abjure, curse, and detest" any opinion that the Earth orbits around the Sun. Hoping to avoid Bruno's fate, Galileo duly "recanted" his "heresy," although legend has it that while obediently swearing under oath that the Earth is fixed and unmoving, he muttered under his breath "Eppur si muove" – "And yet it does move." Whose choice would we make — Bruno's or Galileo's? These days, the question seems particularly urgent.
As George Orwell observed, "to see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle." In an age where the powerful have more tools for coercion than ever, that struggle has never been more acute. Tyrants and demagogues, in particular, demand from us that we believe their lies, instead of our own eyes. Just seeing the truth, even quietly, even privately, already requires of us considerable integrity, while openly insisting on the truth has in certain circumstances become an act of sheer heroism.
JULIAN HENRY LOWENFELD
Playwright and Composer
Julian Henry Lowenfeld is a poet, playwright, composer, and award-winning translator, widely recognized as the foremost living translator of Russian verse into English. For his book My Talisman: The Poetry and Life of Alexander Pushkin, he was awarded Russia’s prestigious Pushkin Medal in 2020. He has recently finished a complete translation Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, and has translated the complete Pushkin fairy tales, as well as Pushkin’s The Bronze Horseman. Being fluent in Russian, German, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, he has also translated poetry by Lermontov, Tyutchev, Blok, Mandelshtam, Tsvetayeva, Akhmatova, Yesenin, Mayakovsky, Rilke, Goethe, Heine, Hugo, Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Lope de Vega, Machado, Martí, Pessoa, Leopardi, Ungharetti, Dante, Catullus, Ovid, and Horace. His theatrical works include the musical plays Kafka for Beginners, about an unjustly imprisoned poet’s struggle to remain sane in an insanely dystopian society), which premiered this year in the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Thanksgiving, an exploration of love and coming of age in contemporary America amidst conflicts between generations, and Love’s a Melody, a musical adaptation of Pushkin’s Little Tragedies in his own verse translation. His novella Rose-Colored Glasses was recently published in audiobook format. His great-grandfather Raphaël Löwenfeld was a celebrated translator and biographer of Tolstoy, and the founder of Berlin’s Schiller Theater.
DEREK DOUGLAS
Director
Derek Douglas is a Scottish writer, director, actor and producer who operates Braw venues. The Founder and principle teacher of The Scottish Theatre and Music School, Derek’s passion for teaching has attracted both adults and children attending weekly classes across Scotland, cultivating the next generation of actors with a solid grounding in theatre and performance skills. Derek, the Playwright, has written a number of dramatic plays including, And They Played Shang-ALang which is about his life growing up in 70’s Edinburgh, with a longstanding, very well attended run in the Edinburgh Fringe and a dedicated following. Additionally, he has written 14 musicals and jukebox musical plays with casts ranging from 1 to 26 performers. As a Director, Derek has produced and/or directed hundreds of productions ranging from American Idiot, Bare, Rent, Little Shop of Horrors, Avenue Q, Carnegie, as well as various pantomimes and music productions.
KENNETH PUSHKIN
Founder, Pushkin Legacy, Executive Producer
Impresario, publisher, art collector, and humanitarian Kenneth Pushkin (a distant relative of the great poet Alexander Pushkin), started his Russian journey in 1992, after the fall of the Soviet Union. Over the years that followed he immersed himself in the art, language and culture of Russia. In 1997, he founded Pushkin Legacy, a non-profit corporation. Working between the U.S. and Russia, the Pushkin Legacy focused on projects related to poet and his oeuvre, as well as meaningful projects in social welfare and cultural diplomacy. However, things were changing and by 2013, the political climate in Russia had become unfavorable for foreign NGOs. Hence, the decision was made to close the Russian arm of the Pushkin Legacy and withdraw from Russia. Continuing on his path of diplomacy, in 2015 Kenneth was appointed as the High Representative for the U.S. within the Fundación Onuart, under the aegis of the UN Office in Geneva, renowned for their work in Human Rights. With a revitalized Pushkin Legacy, Kenneth is currently focused on introducing the great poet in all of his brilliance and humanity to a new generation, and to support projects that advocate for peace through the arts. At a time when the news is all too often about the darkness of war and encroaching authoritarianism, Kenneth believes that Pushkin Legacy’s mission is more prescient than ever — to carry a light for truth and freedom of expression. www.pushkinlegacy.com
MARINA KOVALYOV
Co-Producer
Marina Kovalyov is a New York–based cultural curator and producer. For nearly three decades, she has built lasting cultural bridges between New York and the international arts world, bringing together artists, institutions, and communities. She has also enjoyed a distinguished career as a Broadway producer, presenting acclaimed productions by Sovremennik Theatre, including The Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, and Into the Whirlwind, as well as Novaya Opera Theatre's celebrated production of Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. She was twice honored with the Drama Desk Producer of the Year Award for introducing outstanding international theatre to American audiences.
For more than twenty years, Ms. Kovalyov has produced Our Heritage Month, one of New York City's longest-running multicultural festivals, which for many years opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in collaboration with the City of New York. A former curator at the Brooklyn Museum, she has also organized major exhibitions, festivals, and educational programs at Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, the National Arts Club, Sotheby's, and many other leading cultural institutions.
SOFIA KAPKOV
Co-Producer
Sofia Kapkov is a New York–based producer and arts executive with extensive experience developing and presenting internationally acclaimed performing arts projects.
She is the founder and director of programming of MART Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting contemporary culture and fostering international artistic exchange.
Through MART Foundation, Kapkov has produced and presented projects across the United States, Europe, and Israel, collaborating with leading cultural institutions including the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Sadler’s Wells, Festival d’Avignon, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Orsolina28, Carnegie Hall, and Powerhouse: International – A New Arts Festival.
Under her leadership, MART has co-produced numerous critically acclaimed productions, including the Off-Broadway production of Our Class, recipient of four 2025 Lucille Lortel Awards; Sharon Eyal’s Into the Hairy and Delay the Sadness; the London production of What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank; and the Off-Broadway production Seagull: True Story.
In 2025, Kapkov published Arts Hustler, chronicling her journey and experiences as an international producer and arts entrepreneur, offering an insider’s perspective on the challenges and rewards of bringing ambitious artistic projects to life. www.martfdn.org
SHOW INFORMATION
Venue: Braw Venues @ Hill Street – Venue 41
Stage: Dunedin
Dates: 7th-30th August
Ticket Price: £16 (£14)
Time: 15:30
Length: 1hr
Music and Lyrics by Julian Henry Lowenfeld
Vocals by Anna Lowenfeld
KAFKA FOR BEGINNERS