Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream People Call Human Life

Directed by Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay

Written by Timothy Quay, Alan Passes, Stephen Quay, Robert Walser

Jakob arrives at the Institute Benjamenta (run by brother and sister Johannes and Lisa Benjamenta) to learn to become a servant. With seven other men, he studies under Lisa: absurd lessons of movement, drawing circles, and servility. He asks for a better room. No other students arrive and none leave for employment. Johannes is unhappy, imperious, and detached from the school's operation. Lisa is beautiful, at first tightly controlled, then on the verge of breakdown. There's a whiff of incest. Jakob is drawn to Lisa, and perhaps she to him. As winter sets in, she becomes catatonic. Things get worse; Johannes notes that all this has happened since Jakob came. Is there any cause and effect?

Cast

Alice Krige

Lisa Benjamenta

Mark Rylance

Jakob

Gottfried John

Herr Benjamenta

?

Daniel Smith

Kraus

?

Joseph Alessi

Pepino

?

Jonathan Stone

Hebling

César Saratxu

Inigo

?

Peter Lovstrom

Jorgenson

Uri Roodner

Schilinski

?

Peter Whitfield