BBC Radio Plays by Ed Harris

‘Being a writer-in-residence here has transformed me in the sense that I was allowed to play and be mischievous and playful and naughty with ideas. Being given permission to do that is a really exciting thing.’ (Ed Harris)

Watch the full interview here.

Playwright Ed Harris is writer-in-residence on the Kafka's Transformative Communities project. He has written three radio dramas inspired by Kafka's work as part of this collaboration which were broadcast by BBC Radio 4 in June 2024: adaptations of The Trial and The Man Who Disappeared, and a new play Franz and Felice, which won the PRIX EUROPA for Best European Audio Fiction of the Year 2024. In 2025, his adaptation of The Trial was discussed in the academic journal Law and Humanities.

In 2024, Harris contributed to the BBC's Opening Lines series together with Professor Carolin Duttlinger, in episodes on The Man Who Disappeared and The Trial. 

During the research project, Harris had two residencies at Oxford, giving him access to all the relevant Kafka manuscripts, diaries, letters and other texts held at the Bodleian Libraries, as well as private transcripts of interviews with descendants of Kafka’s fiancé Felice Bauer. He consulted Carolin Duttlinger on the structure of The Trial and had a workshop with the choreographer Arthur Pita and BBC producer Sasha Yevtushenko.

In October 2025, Harris collaborated with the research team to delivery four educational workshops about adapting Kafka into drama: one to a small group of German students at Oxford University and three to over 60 Year-12 state-school students as part of a Kafka Subject Exploration Day at St John’s College.

Feedback comments from the Year-12 pupils included:

'It shows that it's okay to have different ideas.'

'The lack of a clear moral was interesting to me.'

'I realise Kafka is more imaginative, creative and playful than I imagined.'

When asked what they had been inspired to do by the day, responses included:

'Be more creative when I write.'

'Look into Kafka more and German.'

'Study literature with an open mind.'