Metamorphosis by Lemn Sissay based on the story by Franz Kafka. The Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith to 2 March 2024.

3***: William Russell.

“Kafka’s famous story told in a thrilling if overlong version.”

Admittedly Sissay does rather make a meal out of what is arguably a snack with this frequently thrilling adaptation of Kafka’s famous story – it takes some two hours to tell it – but Scott Graham’s production for Frantic Assembly is certainly inventive even if it does rather run out of puff in act two. It also has a performance by Felipe Pacheco as Gregor Samsa, the man who wakes up one morning to find he has metamorphosed into something verminous , possibly a cockroach – just what seems to depend on how one translates Kafka, but “bug” is often the word used – which is in its physicality is breathtaking. We see him first as a handsome young man getting up, setting off for work – he is a salesman – to earn the money to support his parents and his sister Grete, and pay off the fanily debts. That is how Pacheco remains while by his behaviour alone he transforms himself into a creature which climbs all over the place, a creepy crawly insect which hangs from the picture rails and creates havoc swinging from the light fitting - it looks dangerous as he dangles head down from impossible places and possibly is. Sissay has added contemporary references to the story which bog things down a little and maybe sister Grete’s relationship with her brother – she looks after the transformed man – is ever so slightly incestuous which I don’t think it is in Kafka, but the parents are just as nasty towards their failing breadwinner who is locked in the room, fed by Grete for a while, has all the furniture taken away, then abandoned and finally left to starve to death. The parents then see Grete, who has grown up to be a good looking woman, as maybe their next saviour.The production has been on tour since September last year and this stint in Hammersmith is its triumphant end. It is well performed by the entire cast although there is an awful lot of shouting and some incomprehensible gabbling – delivering words is not one of this company’s major concerns,rather it is physical theatre. But the evening belongs to Pacheco – it is an amazing performance.

Cast

Troy Glasgow – Mr Samsa.

Joe Layton - Chief Clerk/Lodger.

Louise Mai Newberry – Mrs Samsa.

Felipe Pacheco – Gregor

Harriet Sinclair Robinson – Grete.

Creatives

Director –Scott Graham.

Designer – Jon Bauer.

Lighting Designer – Simisola Majekodunmi.

Video Designer – Ian William Galloway.

Composer – Stefan Janik.

Soud Designer – Helen Skiera.

Costume Designer –Becky Gunstone.