Metamorphosis was about how a family reacted when a the son turned into a vermin. Let’s start with the positives: there was ingenious use of a split level set where the upper floor bedroom was seen from a ceiling down perspective which allowed for some interesting acrobatic and aerial work by Gísli Örn Garðarsson who played the monster. The music by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis was modern and atmospheric without being distracting. However, these individual elements did not integrate themselves into a production which has so many different styles which became very jarring quite quickly. The start was a promising short physical theatre scene set perfectly to music which then shifted into a “conventional” play. The adaptation Franz Kafka work was simplistic whilst filled redundancies. This clashed and undermined the physical side of the production where a minimal and parred down script would be much welcomed. The acting style was over the top with a hint of pantomime about it which directly contradicted the slightly cruel and dramatic nature of the play. This acting style also contrasted with the very modern music in a contradictory manner. The use of aerial and acrobatic work was interesting but in the age of cirque du soleil was rather elementary and became too much of a show off and pleased with itself. The production has the potential to be very interesting as a pure physical theatre piece and be more focused as to what it set out to achieve. Although there were good elements within it, what it is now is a mismatch of styles which, even only at 85 minutes, made it a tediously 85 minutes to endure.
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