 | Metamorphosis (NHB Modern Plays) : (stage Version) Gregor Samsa wakes up each morning, quietly leaves the house to take the same train, and works to pay off the family debt. But that world explodes one morning, when Gregor awakes to find himself changed. To those around him he is dangerous, untouchable vermin. Worse than that, he is a burden. Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka's shocking tale of cruelty and kindness, has been a literary landmark since it was first published in 1915. Lemn Sissay's thrilling stage adaptation is a visceral and vital depiction of humans struggling within a system that crushes them under its heel. It was commissioned and first produced in 2023 by Frantic Assembly, in a co-production with Theatre Royal Plymouth, Curve, MAST Mayflower Studios and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, and was directed by Scott Graham. Franz Kafka -- July 3, 1883 - June 3, 1924 Franz Kafka was born to middle-class Jewish parents in Prague, Czechoslovakia on July 3, 1883. He received a law degree at the University of Prague. After performing an obligatory year of unpaid service as law clerk for the civil and criminal courts, he obtained a position in the workman's compensation division of the Austrian government. Always neurotic, insecure, and filled with a sense of inadequacy, his writing is a search for personal fulfillment and understanding. He wrote very slowly and deliberately, publishing very little in his lifetime. At his death he asked a close friend to burn his remaining manuscripts, but the friend refused the request. Instead the friend arranged for publication Kafka's longer stories, which have since brought him worldwide fame and have influenced many contemporary writers. His works include The Metamorphosis, The Castle, The Trial, and Amerika. Kafka was diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB) in August 1917. As his disease progressed, his throat became affected by the TB and he could not eat regularly because it was painful. He died from starvation in a sanatorium in Kierling, near Vienna, after admitting himself for treatment there on April 10, 1924. He died on June 3 at the age of 40. (Bowker Author Biography) |
