metamorphosis
Metamorphosis Sydney Theatre, 22 April-2 May 2009, www.sydneytheatre.com<.p>
TASMANIA’S innovative Ten Days on the Island festival was the catalyst for the visit to Sydney by Iceland’s Vesturport Theatre. Aside from catastrophic bank collapses, that large land mass in the northern Atlantic has generated Metamorphosis – a most dramatically and visually thrilling 90+ minutes of theatre – in conjunction with London’s Lyric Hammersmith.
The adaptation and direction, by David Farr and Gisli Orn Gardarsson, of Franz Kafka’s fabled novella is ingenious and a delight to experience. Basically, Gregor Samsa (Bjorn Thors) is a young insurance salesman whose life – quite literally – turns upside down when he begins to metamorphose into “an unclean and monstrous being”. This has been widely interpreted as a cockroach at worst and an insect at best, but was never made specific by the author; nor did he want it to be illustrated as a bug on the original book jacket.
In the context of the stage adaptation this becomes important because Gregor’s gradual transformation from human (brother, son, “he”) to something other (“it”) is both those things and is both credible and dramatic. As realised in this production, through Thors’s physical dexterity and courage, it is all the more transfixing for the audience because the metamorphosis is at once alien and alienating. He does not become a cartoon “bug”; there are no FX; there is no pretence or smoke and mirrors. Through his mainly wordless physical performance he conveys bewilderment, pain, despair and resignation as he realises and accepts what has happened to him. And this is accomplished through a clever set (designer Borkur Jonsson, lighting design Bjorn Helgason) where Gregor’s bedroom is suspended and up-ended above the commonplace family kitchen below. And he capers, swings and crawls around its walls and furnishings as “normal” life goes on downstairs.
Normal is in the eye of the beholder, however. The Samsa family – father, mother and younger sister Grete – is a worry. Gregor is the family breadwinner and is burdened with his pompous father’s disapproval (Ingvar E Sigurdsson) and debt. Frau Samsa (Edda Arnljotsdottir) seems well enough but hyperventilates at the drop of a hat and thrives on anxiety and self-pity. Grete (Unnur Osp Stefansdottir) is his only ally – at first – but in the end is also the first to discern and accept that he has become “it” and must be disposed of.
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In vivid contrast to Gregor’s febrile physicality, the other members of his family move with stilted, exaggerated and comical approximations of bourgeois politeness. This highly disciplined and tightly choreographed style serves to highlight each member of the family’s distance from the other; as well as their total detachment from Gregor’s world. This wilful aloofness, and eventually, abandonment of Gregor is triggered by the intrusion of a stranger: Gregor’s employer Herr Stietl (Jonathan McGuinness) whose officiousness mirrors that of Herr Samsa.
The opening half hour of the production is washed and coloured by a musical score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, sound design by Nick Manning, that is at once dreamy and poignant and lures in the viewer with a subliminal sense of wellbeing. This is soon turned upside down, along with Gregor’s world. The presence of sound and the idea of the unbearable quality of Gregor’s utterances then gradually becomes more and more disturbing. Cave’s final gentle threnody is beautiful.
There is endless scope for projecting thoughts and ideas of one’s own onto the haunting story. Kafka’s lifelong ill health and early death at 41 could be seen to inform the events that lead to Gregor’s downfall; the uncertain and violent circumstances of Europe in the early part of the 20th century are symbolised in what happens to him and his family. And so on. Or you could simply sit back and admire and be engaged by the various imaginations and performances gathered on the stage. Take your pick, either way this Metamorphosis is a very special theatrical experience and it’s Sydney’s good fortune to be hosting these visitors.
