Philip Glass based his pocket opera ‘In the Penal Colony’ for two singers, actors and string quartet (2000) on the Kafka’s eponymous 1919 short story in which, in inimitable fashion, he shows how a totalitarian system becomes caught up in its own absurd logic. His metaphor is an execution machine that carves the convict’s punishment into his skin before he dies. In Kafka’s hands, the story becomes an allegory in which the violence, power and blindness of a system damage humanity. Philip Glass injected a musical undertone into this penetrating narrative, which only serves to strengthen the suspense of the story. Glass’ chamber opera is now being performed in Belgium for the first time, in a semi-concert version, directed by the young Belgian Clara Pons.