Kathy Doherty is a senior keeper at Whipsnade Zoo. Below is a snippet of her review in The Guardian on Kafka’s Monkey from the 2009 run. Click here to read the whole review.
“Kathryn Hunter['s] portrayal of an animal is excellent: she’s incredibly energetic and all the movement is spot on, right down to the way she uses her thumbs to manipulate objects.”
“I see a lot of people who come to the zoo just to laugh at the monkeys, at their pink bums and so on. They look on apes as second-class humans. It’s arrogance, and that’s what I took from the show. It’s not so long ago that zoos were still holding chimp “tea parties”, dressing apes up in human clothes. “
“Not surprisingly, Red Peter ends up hating humanity. I wouldn’t say that was true of our chimps: they get on well with humans… If the chimps don’t like you, they’ll refuse to move, or they’ll throw things. You have to establish a working relationship.”
Kafka’s Monkey is back at the Young Vic from 19 May – 11 June… previews are sold out, so buy your tickets soon!
