Quintessence's 'The Metamorphosis' makes man-turned-cockroach seem real, and relevant
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Kristen Bailey plays Gregor Samsa, whose unexplained change from man to monster is accomplished through movement and behavior, and the gradual shredding and shedding of Katherine Fritz's business suit costume.
'The Metamorphosis' by Quintessence Theatre Group
Shawn May
Shawn May
Rebecca Wright is an inspired choice for Quintessence Theatre Group’s first guest director; the Applied Mechanics cofounder (Vainglorious, We Are Bandits) shares Quintessence’s artistic director Alex Burns’ tastes for boldly unconventional staging. (Burns, meanwhile, is directing the Arden’s Macbeth.)
Her vivid realization of Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1915) in Steven Berkoff’s clear, concise 1969 adaptation — for all its abstractions — makes the tale of an ordinary salesman’s sudden transformation into a cockroach both real and relevant.
Kristen Bailey plays Gregor Samsa, whose unexplained change from man to monster is accomplished through movement and behavior, and the gradual shredding and shedding of Katherine Fritz’s business suit costume. His parents (Douglas Hara, Anita Holland) and sister Greta (Gracie Martin) are horrified but try to cope. They sometimes narrate their actions in third person, and often combine with ensemble members Alan Brincks, Julia Frey and Lee Minora to create Gregor’s unwieldy new alien body.
Colin McIlvane’s translucent set seems held together by masking tape, with picture frames backlit to reveal ghostly characters and chairs hanging from the walls, lit expressively by Maria Shaplin. Adriano Shaplin’s sound is a nearly constant suspenseful soundscape, punctuated by a ticking clock, thunder and arresting moments of eerie silence.
Gregor, suddenly trapped in a new body, is still human but cut off from contact, literally climbing the walls in Bailey’s visceral performance. His family grows stronger through overcoming grim practicalities like feeding the creature, but also succumbs to their own revulsion and regret. The metaphor for difference is clear: the alien other — even if it was, just a moment ago, a loved one — has obvious 21st century meaning.
Through March 1, $15 - 34, Quintessence Theatre Group at the Sedgewick Theater, 7137 Germantown Ave., 215-987-4450, quintessencetheatre.org.
