Writers: Lemn Sissay after Franz Kafka
Director: Scott Graham
The tale of Gregor Samsa, the overworked travelling salesman pummelled into the ground by an overbearing work schedule who wakes up to find himself inexplicably a beetle, is a classic known to all. Famed Czech writer Franz Kafka’s short story Metamorphosis has been adapted for the stage by numerous artists over the decades, all of which imbue the piece with the essence of the adaptor.
Poet and playwright Lemn Sissay’s new version for the Lyric Hammersmith, produced by Frantic Assembly, attempts to rework the simple short story to cast a greater light on the lives of the mother, father and sister of Gregor Samsa, played by Felipe Pacheco, while also centring the body distortion that is at the heart of the piece. Unfortunately, the numerous elements that make up this adaptation, although they may work superbly well in isolation, only create a confused and unsure whole when meshed together.
The stage is an impressive feat, with design by Jon Bausor, which sees Gregor’s whole room compressed and slanted, replete with walls made of fabric that bend at will. The intention here is fantastic, but sadly under-utilised, as one would expect the set to have done more than just move sideways a couple of times throughout the play.
The classic story is retained in full, but fleshed out from the beginning to include Gregor’s descent into overworked depression, demonstrating the tiring routine that sees him work like a slave day in day out to provide for his family and pay off their debt. Moments of repetition to insinuate the mundanity of the days are explored through impressive acrobatics as he becomes more bug than man. The only baffling decision is for these carnivalesque moments to thread throughout the whole piece, as they begin way before Gregor even becomes vermin thus diluting their effect later on.
The ensemble as a whole leaves a lot to be desired. Stylised though the acting may be, it is difficult for the performances of Hannah Sinclair Robinson as Grete, Troy Glasgow as the father Mr Samsa and Louise Mai Newberry as the mother Mrs Samsa to come off as anything other than over-acted and eventually painful to watch. The decision to combine comedy with the seriousness of the subject matter only makes each pained scream or angry bellow come off as cheesy and devoid of real emotion.
Sissay positions Gregor’s sister Grete as a possible dual protagonist at the beginning, drawing upon the subtext of the original short story which states that in order for Grete to bloom Gregor must die. But this decision feels like a half-baked conclusion and never goes as far as it should.
Sissay’s long passages of poetic dialogue may be beautiful to read from the page, but yelled or screamed without any sense of conviction does not make for good dialogue on stage. The insect that Gregor transforms into is only executed via Pacheco’s acrobatics across the stage and the use of silhouettes, which never deliver fully on the body horror that is promised. This is not to say that a massive bug costume was ever needed, but when an actor is giving the same performance throughout the whole show it becomes difficult to pinpoint where exactly the metamorphosis begins.
The runtime of the play also does not lend itself well to the conceit behind this new version: some short stories are intended to only be that. Disappointingly, Lemn Sissay’s Metamorphosis offers so many great ideas but makes a mess of putting them together.
Runs until 2 March 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Humdrum Kafka adaptation.
