Set design and Björn Thors’ acrobatics are some of the things that make Metamorphosis stand out. With Unnur Ösp Stefánsdóttir as Greta.
Soothing music and a striking upper stage are the first things that hit you at the beginning of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis, adapted here to the Royal Alexandra stage. The soft lilting sounds work to lull you into a false sense of tranquility, while light ominous shadows play above, and the stage in semi-darkness down below.
British playwright/director David Farr (Associate Director of Royal Shakespeare Company) and actor/director Gisli Örn Gardarsson breathe new life into this Metamorphosis. There are many aspects that make this production work, the split-level stage, the acrobatics of Björn Thors as Gregor and the rest of the cast with their Icelandic accents and big way of acting adds an extra touch of magic to this play.
Metamorphosis tells the story of Gregor, played expertly by Björn Thors and his sudden, stunning transformation into an unidentifiable insect. We watch as his mother Lucy (Edda Arnljótsdóttir) and father Herman (Scottish born Tom Mannion) become increasingly revolted by their son. Not only is he an insect, but becoming so leaves Gregor unable to work, and therefore, unable to provide for his family. It is only his sister Greta (Unnur Ösp Stefánsdóttir) who seems to recall that this thing was once her brother.
The disconnect between father and son is heartbreaking in Metamorphosis.
Throughout Metamorphosis we watch as Gregor adapts to his new situation and surroundings—Björn’s gravity defying acrobatics seem to recall Cirque to mind. Lucy and Herman are seen as stiff and unmoving as they refuse to acknowledge their son. In one of the more striking scenes of the play, Greta, after neglecting her brother for days, becomes infuriated with him, beats him, and strips him of the last of his dignity. The way in which the family treats Gregor after his demise is heartbreaking and will leave you haunted long after you’ve left the theatre.
Metamorphosis’ aesthetic works in every way. Börkur Jónsson’s stage design is superb. The upper stage, where Gregor spends most of his time is at once his bedroom and later his prison. The drab kitchen below speaks to a family who tries desperately to hold on to some semblance of respectability. The music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis is deceptively haunting and ethereal.
Kafka’s Metamorphosis will celebrate its centennial next year, yet the treatment of his Gregor feels true to life for modern society. What does that say about our seeming inability to transform our thought patterns and behaviors 100 years later? Essentially, it is the story of the Other that we all too often struggle with to this day, while it also asks what value we place on people we deem unfit to contribute to society.
Gregor, throughout, remains the same kind, thoughtful person he always was—an insect, yet the most human of them all.
Metamorphosis plays at the Royal Alexandra Theatre through March 9. For tickets visit: Mirvish
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