About the work
Chamber opera in one act and 16 scenes by Philip Glass, to a libretto by Rudolph Wurlitzer after Franz Kafka's story of the same name. Commissioned by ACT Theatre in Seattle, it premiered there on 31 August 2000, directed by JoAnne Akalaitis.
Plot
In a remote penal colony, an officer proudly explains to a visiting traveller the torture device used to execute a condemned soldier. When the traveller disapproves of the practice, the officer submits himself to the machine, which then malfunctions and kills him.
Cultural significance
Scored for two singers and a string quintet, Glass's setting foregrounds Kafka's engagement with humanism, justice and violence rather than cruelty for its own sake. The opera received its German premiere in 2002 at the Berlin Kammeroper under the title In der Strafkolonie.