Cracking Kafka

Mar 9 2008 by LESLEY OLDFIELD

Metamorphosis at Northern Stage, Newcastle

WELL, what would you do if your son turned into a monster? This adaptation of Franz Kafka’s famous short story shows what happens when hard-working Gregor wakes up one day having changed into something his family can neither stomach nor understand.

Bjorn Thors, as Gregor, summons up his transformation with nothing more than sheer athleticism — clinging to spindly lampshades and chairs — and with movements which first seem double-jointed then disjointed.

He literally climbs the walls of an ingenious set which gives the audience a birds-eye perspective while, below, the family climb the walls wondering what to do with this creature.

They can’t make him better, they can’t cope with him as he is and slowly — amid moments of bleak humour — their hearts harden.

A full house demanded an extra curtain call for Icelandic theatre company Vesturport, who developed the show with David Farr and with haunting music from Nick Cave