Metamorphosis @ Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London

If you want to watch something proper strange, Lemm Sissay and Frantic Assembly’s physical take on Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis. Literally swinging from the light fittings and more! with intense and pacey direction Scott Graham.

Felipe Pacheco’s performance as Gregor Samsa alone was worth the ticket price. We saw him slowly and painfully transformed from worker drone/ordinary man into insect/monster. The screaming! The leaping around the walls. The writhing across the floor.

All was decay as Mr Samsa (Troy Glasgow) and Mrs Samsa (Louise Mai Newberry) were all shabby gentility as they lived in faded glory and feigned respectability. It was all a bit Freudian as Gregor and his ‘sister’ (adopted) Grete (Hannah Sinclair Robinson) fell into thwarted love of music — and textiles — and more.

Gregor provided for the family — until the day that he didn’t, not turning up for work, being late and making a lot of noise in his room. His family sought to hide him and then to bury him as he ruined their ‘nice’ reputation. Meantime he wanted to connect with his family and to enjoy Grete’s music. His family ran screaming from him — and wanted him gone or put away.

Whilst insect forms and cocoons are hinted at, we never fully see Gregor transform until the end — when it’s suggested that he’s become a butterfly rather than a beetle.

Following the spirit of the work, we get the sense of crushing repetitive work, dreams of beauty and hard work against the economic and social struggles of the 1930s. Ironically his father replaces Gregor as a travelling salesman for a while — ineffectively as it turns out, whilst boasting of his productivity and provision for his family.

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