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Metamorphosis, The - A Play

Set in early 20th-century Prague and written in verse, this inventive adaptation of the groundbreaking novella captures the surreal humor and pathos of Kafka's immortal story.

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Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Adaptations (Literature), Dark Comedy
  • 90 minutes

  • Time Period: 1910s / WWI
  • Target Audience: Appropriate for all audiences
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings
  • Cautions: Mild Adult Themes

  • Performance Group:
  • High School/Secondary, College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre
The Metamorphosis - A Play is a dramatic adaptation of Kafka’s novella told as a play within a play. Kafka’s surreal story, first published in 1915, is of a man who finds himself transformed one morning into an insect. There is a tragicomic dimension to this absurdist tale but also a deep truth. As humans we do experience physical metamorphoses: at puberty, in pregnancy, at involution, and in old age. Psychologically we also experience such changes: entering college, entering the workplace, becoming a parent, coming out of the closet, emerging from a pandemic, leaving a mental hospital, leaving a prison. Anxiety about change is seen in our daily life as well: we check the mirror before we leave the house or enter a room. We feel relieved when nothing too strange appears to our eyes. Do we unconsciously fear we have, perhaps, become the ugly bug? Kafka, by teasing out the absurdity of it, defuses this hidden fear. But perhaps it stays in our dreams… See what poetry and music have to tell us.
REVIEWS:

"Thomalen has done the theatergoing public a great service."

 Town and Village

"This adaptation makes one ponder socially significant issues, class struggles, inequities, treatment of someone different, i.e. disabled or dysfunctional, and the writing is forthright."

 Hi Drama

"Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis begins as the story's central figure, Gregor Samsa, becomes a giant insect. Stories seldom start in a more over-the-top, theatrical way... a rich subject... how would Gregor be represented? Thomalen's solution is both obvious and effective, having the actor portraying him never utter a single spoken line, with whatever insect-like speech he can muster portrayed by Klezmer-like violin sounds being produced by the Hasidic musician who always accompanies him."

 Talkin' Broadway

Premiere Production: The Metamorphosis – A Play premiered on January 9, 2003 at the Jose Quintero Theatre as a Showcase, and then Equity, production. Francine Trevens directed.

Characters

  • Casting: 5M, 3F
  • Casting Attributes: Reduced casting (Doubling Possible), Flexible casting, Expandable casting
  • Casting Notes: The play is written in a modified Cinquain verse form. If spoken with end-stopped lines, it approximates the cadence of middle European speech in American English, even without accents.

  • GREGOR SAMSA – 20s; a dung beetle, or believes self to be.
    GRETE SAMSA – late teens; Gregor's sister.
    MR. SAMSA – 50s; Gregor's father.
    MRS. SAMSA – 50s; Gregor's mother.
    OFFICE MANAGER
    FIRST MAID
    CLEANING WOMAN
    FIRST BOARDER
    SECOND BOARDER
    THIRD BOARDER
    STAGE MANAGRE
    THE FIDDLER     – Klezmer musician.

    • Available Material

    Name Price
    Metamorphosis, The - A Play Script This is optional. Order Now

    The Metamorphosis - A Play is a dramatic adaptation of Kafka’s novella told as a play within a play. Kafka’s surreal story, first published in 1915, is of a man who finds himself transformed one morning into an insect. There is a tragicomic dimension to this absurdist tale but also a deep truth. As humans we do experience physical metamorphoses: at puberty, in pregnancy, at involution, and in old age. Psychologically we also experience such changes: entering college, entering the workplace, becoming a parent, coming out of the closet, emerging from a pandemic, leaving a mental hospital, leaving a prison. Anxiety about change is seen in our daily life as well: we check the mirror before we leave the house or enter a room. We feel relieved when nothing too strange appears to our eyes. Do we unconsciously fear we have, perhaps, become the ugly bug? Kafka, by teasing out the absurdity of it, defuses this hidden fear. But perhaps it stays in our dreams… See what poetry and music have to tell us.

    		$24.95

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