In Synetic Theater’s production of Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis,” the set is far more than a place where the action happens. It’s a visual statement of the bizarre, illogical universe that Kafka created. Natsu Onoda Power’s set contains three playing areas: the stage; a floor high above the stage, connected to it by a flight of stairs; and an off-kilter realm between those spaces, whose floor is perpendicular to the stage, and whose lamps, tables and bed project outward toward the audience.
“Metamorphosis”
Where: Synetic Theater, Rosslyn Spectrum Theatre, 1611 N. Kent St., Arlington
When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday; through May 22
Info: $40 to $45; 800-494-8497; synetictheater.org
This is Gregor Samsa’s room, the place where a young traveling salesman wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect. In this production, adapted from Kafka’s novella by Derek Goldman, Gregor’s transformation is made agonizingly literal as he fights his way out of a large cocoon, discovering himself trapped in an unrecognizable body, in a place where the laws of gravity do not apply.
Goldman, who is also the director of this “Metamorphosis,” has created a role for Kafka (Clark Young) as the narrator, telling the story and serving as the voice of Gregor (John Milosich). The main characters of Kafka’s tale are represented faithfully: the cruel father (Steve Beall), the oversensitive mother (Annie Houston), the once-loving sister (Catalina Lavalle).
Goldman’s approach is deliberately non-realistic: four actors appear at various times crawling on the stage, holding microphones, speaking lines, making noises. The result is an underscoring of the unnatural, alienated world of “Metamorphosis.” Another remove from reality exists when the woman in a picture on Gregor’s wall, the “Lady in Furs” (Caitlin Cassidy), comes to life and sings.
Although “Metamorphosis” is anything but comic, Goldman manages to create hilarious moments. The Samsas’ three lodgers (Matt MacNelly, Vince Eisenson, Frank Britton), their huge beards in outrageous shapes, are like Marx Brothers characters from a newly discovered film. Charlotte Akin is amusing as the eternally evolving Charwoman.
The construction of the set and the way Young must manipulate himself in it would be daunting for other theaters, but choreographer Irina Tsikurishvili has found ways to make not only Gregor but all the characters move gracefully and fluidly. Konstantine Lortkipanidze’s original music and James Bigbee Garver’s sound design help to create the unconventional world of this “Metamorphosis.”
In addition to the imaginative set, Natsu Onoda Power has created extraordinary costumes. When he wakes on that fateful morning, Gregor’s body has morphed into a huge, reddish brown carapace that dwarfs his back, his oversized head dominated by immense eyes.
Kafka’s “Metamorphosis” depends on a great deal of symbolism and so does Goldman’s, who deftly lifts quotes from Kafka regarding racial and ethnic isolation, emphasizing that this story is more than a tale of an individual and his family or his job. As with the original, it’s possible to find different meanings in the words and symbols Goldman chooses. What’s not open to interpretation is the sense of solitude and powerlessness, the sense of hostility, antagonism and absurdity that Goldman creates, all hallmarks of the inscrutable, irrational universe of Gregor Samsa.
