The apish protagonist describes how he was caught in Africa and brought back to Europe where he excelled in training and was eventually fully integrated into society, abandoning "what I once was". In keeping with many of Kafka's other short stories (Metamorphosis, Investigations of a Dog), animal form is used as an allegory for contemplating human character and societal pressures.

Kathryn Hunter wears the mantle of a chimp adeptly. There is little in the way of make-up or costume to indicate her primate nature, but the clearly studied mannerisms of the ape are imitated well. But she isn't merely a monkey, but a beast pretending to be a man, played by a woman. Myriad layers of identity abound.

Kathryn wasn't trying to steer us towards ego analysis however (Freud wasn’t to publish on this for another couple of years, after all), and in spite of the harshly introspective nature of the character she is often courting the audience for laughs. Her body hangs slightly hunched as she intensely describes her incarceration within a ship, before suddenly exploding across the stage and dropping into the splits and freezing again, silent. Later she drops out of a monologue to run up the aisle and picks fleas from unfortunate audience members in the front row. Such switches, which occur throughout, break up the wordiness and hold the audience captivated.

One of the major successes of the production is its close adherence to an excellent text. Where last year's Lyric Hammersmith production of Metamorphosis added a dramatic set, a Nick Cave score and a final scene of wild acrobatics, it diluted, rather than embellished, the intensity of the story. The success of this show lies in the minimal decoration - only a lectern, ladder, and single projected image of a chimpanzee are used to recall scenes of the monkey's geographical and evolutionary journey.

Hunter has some experience playing male roles (including King Lear and Richard III). Her gender is never used as shorthand for expounding the point the play makes about internal vs external ego. Except perhaps once, where she announces: "It was so easy to imitate those men" (where as in the original text the line ends "people"). A smug ad-libbed recognition of the audience's vocal appreciation of her performance? Perhaps, but it would be well-earned.

Kafka's Monkey runs until 9 April at the Young Vic and tickets are £10 if you're under 26. Visit the website for more information.

To read the original story in full, visit the Kafka Project.