Metamorphosis – York Theatre Royal

Written: Franz Kafka

Adapted: Lemn Sissay, OBE

Director: Scott Graham

You could convince yourself that the thought of spending 2 hours of an evening watching a theatrical adaptation of Franz Kafka’s novella Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung in its original German) and attempting to digest its various interpretations and commentaries of the psychological and sociological aspects of man’s inner turmoil as a mere cog in the wheel of a capitalist society, would be as intellectually and emotionally stimulating as watching the proverbial paint drying. However one can assure you that Frantic Assembly’s production of Metamorphosis, now showing at the York Theatre Royal, will provide you with more stimulation of thought then a double shot of Black Label coffee with a Red Bull chaser.

The main setting of the performance is the simple and modestly furnished 1950s bedroom of the lead character Gregor Samsa with drab, grey coloured walls and converging lines that create a vanishing point to the corner of the room where the single bed lies and most of the action takes place. But this is where any simplicity and modesty end as the room becomes a main character in the play when what appear to be solid walls begin to flow about as if they had turned to water and change colours as the room seems to either cause or react to the ever-changing emotions and conflicts of the characters who occupy it at any given time. The exposed flooring underneath the front of the bedroom added to the overall creepy, disturbing and other worldly atmosphere created on the stage even before the first opening line was spoken. The originally scored music was reminiscent of what you would hear during any good horror film and added in no small part to creating some real suspense and anxiety throughout the production. Although on some occasions the music was a bit too loud as it made it difficult to hear the actors and or distracted from the scene being played put on stage. On these occasions, less is more.

Your reviewer has spent many a year behind the scenes of the theatre as a stagehand and cannot say enough about the numerous, visually stunning, practical effects that were employed throughout this production and the way in which they were flawlessly executed on all occasions. With characters appearing and disappearing in and out of the room through what appeared to be solid walls, a montage of 1950s magazine pages and shadows of moths and birds in flight being projected about the room, a small single overhead light extending down to the stage to be expertly used as a trapeze by Felipe Pacheco (Gregor Samsa), and actors dissolving into the mattress of the single bed in full view of an audience, this is indeed a feet of outstanding and imaginative practical effects and worth the price of ticket in itself.

The physical demands on the actors in this interpretation of Metamorphosis directed by Frantic Assembly’s Artistic Director Scott Graham, who is either a directorial genius or someone in need of serious professional help if these are samples of images he is seeing in his mind, were obvious as they not only delivered there lines with poetic pacing and emotions, but did so while moving with each other through the scenes and dialogue by means of graceful and excellently choreographed modern dance, ballet and circus like footwork. Felipe Pacheco’s ability to effortlessly climb the walls and traverse the coving at the top of the set by hand and use the descended light fixture as a trapeze during his metamorphosis from a bread winning fabric salesman to disabled drain on his family’s emotions and patients was physical theatre at its most professional.

Each and every audience member will come away from watching this production with their own interpretation of what statement Franz Kafka was attempting to make when Metamorphosis was first published in 1915 and adapted by the creative team of Frantic Assembly in 2023. Is it a powerful and vital depiction of humans struggling within a system that crushes them under its heel? Is it a depiction of how society sees men having worth only if they are the “bread winner” in the family and if they are not, just how disposable they become if their mental health suffers because of the demands that society puts on them and they put on themselves?

The best thing about this production, other than the practical effects, is that it allows for all interpretations and opinions to be considered and to have value.

Runs until 14th October 2023