Frantic Assembly celebrate their 30th anniversary this year and continue to take risks and develop young talent through their Ignition programme.
Kafka’s novella Metamorphosis has limitless potential for physical theatre. After their superb staging of a modern Othello last year, I had high expectations for this current show.
Lemn Sissay’s adaptation rips up the story, adding subplots, delaying the transformation of Gregor Samsa into the loathsome insect, and making the main focus the relentless grind of capitalism.
Video projections, lighting tricks, and a set by Jon Bausor that hints at poverty and disturbance characterise Metamorphosis. Greta (Hannah Sinclair Robinson) and Gregor (Felipe Pacheco) are close siblings, bonding over travelling fantasy and music.
Without the physical change occurring immediately, act one feels uneven and often confusing, even if you know the novella and earlier adaptations.
Gregor is clearly seen as a cash cow for his family, notably his domineering and unsympathetic father. His initial brightness about his work is belied by spasms and other indicators about his mental state.
There’s a lot to take in – a suggestion of sibling incest is perplexing, although a movement between them repeated in act two is both touching and repulsive.
What is definitely a draw is Gregor’s climbing and crawling in act two – he looks the same, but his changed state is indicated by clever use of a bedsheet, a cluster of chairs, and shrieks on the soundtrack.
Some artistic choices irritated rather than impressed me – repetition, blackouts, and pace. Moments of great power and promise were left diluted, and in both acts, I felt my attention wandering a little.
There are moments of greatness here, notably in the performances of Pacheco and Sinclair Robinson as the Samsa siblings, young man and teenage girl.
Their playfulness in act one makes Greta’s act two betrayal particularly horrifying, while Pacheco’s dexterity in twisting, scuttling, and climbing is an engrossing watch.
The other characters take up time but are broadly drawn. Father (Troy Glasgow) is an insufferable bully, while Mother (Louise Mai Newberry) is downtrodden and much too agreeable.
The dual role of Chief Clerk and Tenant (Joe Layton) offers the closest to Kafka’s corporate villainy but isn’t quite focused enough, and in act two turns quickly vicious.
With hints of what could have been, Scott Graham’s production has the visual power you expect from Frantic Assembly, but the script comes some way short of doing the story justice.
Metamorphosis continues at Lyric Hammersmith until 2 Mar with tickets here.
For more on Frantic Assembly, visit their website.
**
Image credit: Tristram Kenton