"Dearest Father, you asked me recently why I claim to be afraid of you..."

Franz Kafka had always described his relationship with his father like a trial, a judgment or a sentence. In his 1919 exegesis, ‘Dearest Father’, he wrote a scathing 103 pages that detailed the complex history of their relationship, from birth to near-death. The letter was never read.

Over a hundred years on, in this new, Queer adaptation, a young man grapples with his appearance, sexuality, relationships and identity, the Oxford comma and a rotting apple, all in an attempt to reconcile the fact that he is positively, definitely, absolutely and irrevocably not his father’s son.

Produced in association with Fringe Brisbane, Flaming Carnations presented the world premiere of this new adaptation at Studio1, Yerrongpilly from 22nd-23rd October 2022, bringing the pains of the past into the present, and infusing them with hope.