I only had a lukewarm reaction to the Sydney Theatre Company’s Wharf 2 Blueprints production of Franz Kafka’s ‘The Metamorphosis’ in a new, theatrical adaptation by Ben Ellis.
Ellis’s adaptation contemporized the story to a suburban Sydney setting.
The Sydney Theatre Company put together a good team to bring the story to life. Director Benjamin Winspear together with designer Robert Cousins chose a clever, non naturalistic set. The action took place in Gregor’s bedroom with Gregor in a single bed, wrapped in sheets, transformed into a cockroach, and people coming in and out of the room, in a frenetic pace.
A good cast came on board, Matthew Whittet played Gregor, and was supported by Mandy McElhinney, Tony Llewellyn-Jones, Julie Forsyth, Kim Gyngell and Ming-Zhu Hii.
My disappointment lay in the way the production lacked emotional resonance. As clever, as funny, as hysterical as it got, I never felt emotionally engaged.