INTRODUCTION

'Metamorphosis' was originally a novella written by Franz Kafka and published in 1915, which was later adapted by Steven Berkoff into a play and first performed in 1969, through his own specific style of total theatre that has left him as a widely recognised practitioner to this day. The play tells the story of a Gregor Samsa, an overworked travelling fabric salesman stuck in a stressful job to provide for his family, who awakes one day to find himself transformed into a beetle. The play shows the consequences of this on the family and is a metaphor for a demanding, work-obsessed capitalist society.

KAFKA NOVEL NOTES

Kafka was an interesting writer who was only recognised as a cornerstone of early 20th century literature after his death - his works, that he entrusted a friend, Max Brod, to destroy upon his death were instead published and became extremely successful. He was a Jewish immigrant raised in Prague, who spoke German and had a strained relationship with his father, with ambiguous but generally left-leaning political views and a relaxed job in insurance taken so he had adequate money and time to write. Immediately we can see much of the inspiration for the themes of family conflict, renouncement of capitalism and work, and alienation in Metamorphosis and some of his other works. Kafka was concerned with the complete absurdity of life, particularly in modern society, and the cruelty of authoritarian control, all of which resonated strongly with a post-war audience or indeed any reader.

The novel itself differs slightly from the play adaptation written by Berkoff that we will be studying as our set text. Firstly, in Kafka's novel, we aren't introduced to the family and mainly Gregor before his transformation. The opening pages focus solely on Gregor waking up and discovering what has happened. Kafka wants us to focus on the absurdity of the situation and uses Gregor more as a narrator to reminisce to earlier points and convey his message. Berkoff instead adds in more detail of their previous life to create more sympathy for Gregor through emotional attachment. He replaces narration with Greek chorus too, and conveys action through mime and movement. This maintains the absurd and uneasy or sinister feeling synonymous with Kafka's works. There are also adaptations in the plot changed for various reasons.

One of the biggest differences is the portrayal of the creature that Gregor transforms into. The original German text describes him as an Ungeziefer - this translates to 'vermin' or more literally 'an inedible or unclean creature.' English translators decided to interpret this as meaning a bug or insect, often a beetle, but Kafka's intention was for the human mind to imagine worse or anything it wanted. Berkoff obviously had to give the creature a clear face, and by having the actor for Gregor use mime and physical movement to transform himself into an insect like form, we see the human face and therefore sympathise more with Gregor, whilst achieving the same horror that must be produced.

PLAY NOTES

The play uses amazing set design (three stools and scaffolding at the back of the stage) as well as sound and light. Berkoff is a total theatre practitioner. There is also mime and Greek chorus and Kabuki theatre influence.
EAST PRODUCTIONS PERFORMANCE

Moving like clockwork, Japanese version
OTHER PERFORMANCES

Lemn Sissay's adaptation wasn't quite as successful and other versions were better.
CONTEXT

Berkoff himself, very similarly to Kafka, comes from a family of Jewish immigrants and also had socialist-tending political views. This clearly gave him a reason to choose Metamorphosis to adapt. Berkoff chose to write this play to show the shocking parts of society we don't want to see, as Kafka too did exactly this in lots of his works.