This was my first visit to an ROH2 production and I did not leave disappointed. Franz Kafka’s novella The Metamorphosis lends itself extremely well to dance. The abstraction of dance makes it the perfect medium to explore the physical, emotional and social aspects of Gregor Samsa’s (Ed Watson) sudden, inexplicable transformation into an insect. And Arthur Pita does this to great effect.
The stage is in the transverse, with the audience sat on both sides looking through the stage. An unusual but effective choice; Grete (Laura Day) can be cringing, hiding in the back corner to one side of the audience, but framing the whole scene for the other side. The stage is also split in two halves linked only by a small bridge– one half Gregor’s bedroom, the other the kitchen. Other characters enter only one at a time, and Mr Samsa never at all – more than just a physical division then. The music by Frank Moon doesn’t intrude or take over, but perfectly complements the action on stage.
So what of that action then? At the start, we see the Samsa family’s daily routine, three times over, with subtle variations but the emphasis clearly on monotony in order to make it all the more stark when suddenly, inexplicably, Gregor wakes up as an insect. Ed Watson’s physicality - contorted, vile and then suddenly graceful - coupled with a sense of human vulnerability and fear, is captivating. It is contortion beyond even Wayne MacGregor’s wildest dreams. The lack of any obvious choreographic shape in many places somehow doesn’t matter – we are reeled into Gregor’s strange new world. The insect ‘gunk’ dribbled both by Gregor and spontaneously from the floor at times, black on the stage's stark white floors and walls, adds a revulsion factor for the audience. We join his family in fear and disgust. And yet, because we see both his isolation and his more tender interactions with his family, particularly with his sister Grete, we enter into his desperate world. Hence it is all the more harrowing when Mr Samsa pelts his insectile son with apples when he dares venture forth into the kitchen.
I thought this piece worked so well, in equal parts due to choreographic originality and superb production, but also largely due to Franz Kafka's original concept. For my part, as I watched Ed Watson writhe in both extreme pity but also slight revulsion, I wondered how much this reaction (which from conversations afterwards was a fairly standard audience response) reflects our response as a society to some of the horrible events that suddenly, inexplicably afflict individuals amongst us…not a comfortable thought process.
A thought-provoking, moving, and very different ROH experience.
