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Metamorphosis
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.
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.
84 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 21, 2023
1 person is currently reading
7 people want to read
About the author
Franz Kafka
3,232 books38.6k followersFranz Kafka was a German-speaking writer from Prague whose work became one of the foundations of modern literature, even though he published only a small part of his writing during his lifetime. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Prague, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Kafka grew up amid German, Czech, and Jewish cultural influences that shaped his sense of displacement and linguistic precision. His difficult relationship with his authoritarian father left a lasting mark, fostering feelings of guilt, anxiety, and inadequacy that became central themes in his fiction and personal writings.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.
Kafka studied law at the German University in Prague, earning a doctorate in 1906. He chose law for practical reasons rather than personal inclination, a compromise that troubled him throughout his life. After university, he worked for several insurance institutions, most notably the Workers Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia. His duties included assessing industrial accidents and drafting legal reports, work he carried out competently and responsibly. Nevertheless, Kafka regarded his professional life as an obstacle to his true vocation, and most of his writing was done at night or during periods of illness and leave. Kafka began publishing short prose pieces in his early adulthood, later collected in volumes such as Contemplation and A Country Doctor. These works attracted little attention at the time but already displayed the hallmarks of his mature style, including precise language, emotional restraint, and the application of calm logic to deeply unsettling situations. His major novels The Trial, The Castle, and Amerika were left unfinished and unpublished during his lifetime. They depict protagonists trapped within opaque systems of authority, facing accusations, rules, or hierarchies that remain unexplained and unreachable. Themes of alienation, guilt, bureaucracy, law, and punishment run throughout Kafka’s work. His characters often respond to absurd or terrifying circumstances with obedience or resignation, reflecting his own conflicted relationship with authority and obligation. Kafka’s prose avoids overt symbolism, yet his narratives function as powerful metaphors through structure, repetition, and tone. Ordinary environments gradually become nightmarish without losing their internal coherence. Kafka’s personal life was marked by emotional conflict, chronic self-doubt, and recurring illness. He formed intense but troubled romantic relationships, including engagements that he repeatedly broke off, fearing that marriage would interfere with his writing. His extensive correspondence and diaries reveal a relentless self-critic, deeply concerned with morality, spirituality, and the demands of artistic integrity. In his later years, Kafka’s health deteriorated due to tuberculosis, forcing him to withdraw from work and spend long periods in sanatoriums. Despite his illness, he continued writing when possible. He died young, leaving behind a large body of unpublished manuscripts. Before his death, he instructed his close friend Max Brod to destroy all of his remaining work. Brod ignored this request and instead edited and published Kafka’s novels, stories, and diaries, ensuring his posthumous reputation.
The publication of Kafka’s work after his death established him as one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. The term Kafkaesque entered common usage to describe situations marked by oppressive bureaucracy, absurd logic, and existential anxiety. His writing has been interpreted through existential, religious, psychological, and political perspectives, though Kafka himself resisted definitive meanings. His enduring power lies in his ability to articulate modern anxiety with clarity and restraint.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 11, 2024
Read on the train home after watching it performed in London.
I haven't actually read the original novella, so I didn't know quite what to expect beyond a man turning into a verminous monster.
I loved the performance and this script, however, and am keen to read the original text sometime soon and see if it carries the same themes: crushing capitalism, mental health, fragile masculinity and more.
I haven't actually read the original novella, so I didn't know quite what to expect beyond a man turning into a verminous monster.
I loved the performance and this script, however, and am keen to read the original text sometime soon and see if it carries the same themes: crushing capitalism, mental health, fragile masculinity and more.
December 27, 2025
It is 21:04 as I am writing this, sitting and watching the lights dance on the surface of the water, the sky a dusty, silky charcoal.
When I saw this book in Hatchards, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. Drama lessons, Steven Berkoff's version of this play.
This, of course, is another adaptation, a Frantic Assembly production.
As I read it, I was struck by how atmospheric, how evocative, it was. It is meant to be watched, to be performed, and I truly regret never having seen this production because I honestly believe that it would have been amazing.
There were moments that made me tear up, and I admit that the end of Act One resulted in me crying on the tube.
Lines and moments stuck with me, etching themselves into my mind. "Night is a caution, isn't it, a museum of lost items and unresolved questions dripping from the day and hovering like swords of Damocles?"
A grotesque yet heart-breaking exploration of society, family, alienation, and dehumanisation, 'Metamorphosis' was a quick, poignant read and, should it ever return to the stage, I would definitely grab a ticket.
When I saw this book in Hatchards, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. Drama lessons, Steven Berkoff's version of this play.
This, of course, is another adaptation, a Frantic Assembly production.
As I read it, I was struck by how atmospheric, how evocative, it was. It is meant to be watched, to be performed, and I truly regret never having seen this production because I honestly believe that it would have been amazing.
There were moments that made me tear up, and I admit that the end of Act One resulted in me crying on the tube.
Lines and moments stuck with me, etching themselves into my mind. "Night is a caution, isn't it, a museum of lost items and unresolved questions dripping from the day and hovering like swords of Damocles?"
A grotesque yet heart-breaking exploration of society, family, alienation, and dehumanisation, 'Metamorphosis' was a quick, poignant read and, should it ever return to the stage, I would definitely grab a ticket.
June 23, 2025
“A man is what a man does.”
Heartbreaking and beautiful adaptation.
Heartbreaking and beautiful adaptation.
November 30, 2025
I dont think I can bring myself to watch the film. There is clearly a reason Kafka only chose an ugly insect for this metamorphosis. Although it is only 94 pages (the book I read) it seemed long for me. It shows the limit love has over disgust (due to appearance, smell and habits) and shame and the limit of reasonable adjustments one can do. There is always a limit for parental love as self-preservation will take over (an unavoidable counterpart of the metamorphosis) as will non-chalant cruelty. The story reminded me of the Japanese Hikikomori syndrome.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews