As the FRINGE WORLD Festival opens and the city is alight, the streets of Perth are filled with the funny and flirtatious, the surreal, and the magically real.

And in the Blue Room Theatre – at the heart of Perth’s Cultural Centre – you will find a solo performance that will shake you to your very core.

Based on Franz Kafka’s A Report to an Academy ( 1917 ), the multi-award-winning Kafka’s Ape has finally made it to Australia.

Exploring themes of identity, displacement, and otherness in a post-apartheid South Africa, you find yourself as a member of the ‘esteemed academy’, listening to an autobiographical report from Red Peter – an ape turned human, as portrayed by Tony B. Miyambo.

The highly conflicted nature of the show’s protagonist is beautifully brought to life through Miyambo’s physical acting, with moments of intense and primal emotion being cut between philosophical reflections on Red Peter’s traumatic journey into human society.

With a minimalist set design, every prop and set piece was used to its utmost potential, and even the lights worked to both guide the eye and the heart – from harsh reds to deep blues, to total darkness.

It is important to remember that you are not a mere spectator of this show, but a member of the ‘academy’ – a shareholder in the life of the human being in front of you. This level of closeness is what makes Kafka’s Ape so compelling, as it shows you the dangers of seeing only skin-deep.

It is a show that turns a philosophical eye to the modern world, and will leave you questioning about the nature of humanity and what truly makes someone ‘civilised’.

Thought-provoking, personal, and profound, Kafka’s Ape is a performance that will make you laugh, cry, and will stick in your mind long after you have left your seat.