Gisli Orn Gardarsson became a flying insect in Metamorphosis at the Kennedy Center/Vesturport
Metamorphosis has come and gone after playing for
just three nights as part of the Nordic Cool 2013 arts celebration now underway
at the Kennedy Center, and it was some of the best theater I have seen in
years.
A friend
said he found Kafka depressing, but my purpose in attending was to enjoy
drama and the artistry of the production, and that’s what I got, and a lot
more.
If you've
read the "novella," you must wonder how a producer would go about metamorphosing a
man, a family's primary breadwinner, into an insect, but Gisli Orn Gardarsson,
who plays the insect/man, and David Farr, both adapters and directors, had no
problems bringing it all together.
The set for
the play is a portion of a family’s house on two levels: the sitting room downstairs and the bedroom of
"Gregor" (Gardarsson) upstairs whose mother, father, and sister don’t
take too well to the changed physical and mental state of their relative. They grow increasingly weary of putting up with the pest, and their tolerance of him who grows more
different from them day by day diminishes.
Only the fittest shall survive.
In Metamorphosis only the fittest survive/Vesturport
Except for the
mother (Edda Arnljotsdottir) who frequently shouted to project her voice, the
performers performed their characters with aplomb, but it was Gardarsson who,
of course, stole the show. His
metamorphosis into insect was so captivating that lack of bug costume and fur, 1,000 legs, and wings to soar over the house went unnoticed while
watching.
Over time,
his bedroom, which the audience views from a ceiling perch, becomes a cage
where Gregor explores in his creepy, crawly way, sometimes on an invisible
trapeze as he leaps from wall to wall. Always
crouched on boomerang appendages, he hangs from the ceiling, and jumps
upon tables which become landing pads.
The insect's bedroom metamorphed into a cage/Vesturport
The insect's bedroom metamorphed into a cage/Vesturport
When his
sister Greta (Selma Bjornsdottir) comes to beat him in one memorable scene,
the lights go out and Gregor's domicile immediately changes into a black and
white torture chamber, illuminated by one big bright light shining on the room
from the back and exposing prison bars behind the wrestling silhouettes while
Greta strikes her brother repeatedly. It is a painful scene but hardly worse
than Gregor's parents' behavior toward their only son: Get rid of him, and
let's move on. Gregor's father (Ingvar E. Sigurdsson) pelts him
with fruit.
The show
included a ballet of sorts by Ms. Arnljotsdottir who often pirouetted from one
side of the stage to the other in gentle solos, rolling across the dining room
table at one point, just like Gregor, except the mother was a tad more jubilant,
not racing to escape her captors, and uplifted subconsciously perhaps, by the
knowledge the upstairs occupant was dying and would soon cease to be a bother.
The
lighting (Bjorn Helgason) conveyed in the gloomy but homey set (until Gregor's room is metamorphed) and the music (Nick Cave and Warren
Ellis) (think: Hitchcock on ice) were spectacular. (Alas, unseen musicians and
the volume made it seem taped.) Split-second cues for sounds and buzzers were
never missed.
Presenting the play were Vesturport Theatre of Iceland and Lyric Hammersmith of the U.K., companies which pride themselves on producing exceptional experimental theater which has earned them several prizes. Gisli Orn Gardarsson is one of the founders of Vesturport, and David Farr, a screenwriter and director, is associated with Lyric Hammersmith.
This Metamorphosis, staged around the world,
was presented at the Eisenhower Theater at the Kennedy Center, the smaller
theater size which makes reception more enjoyable, however, do avoid Row Y in
Orchestra since the leg room is about a third less than that found in other
rows, and we just a little better off than insects crammed in a cage.
patricialesli@gmail.com
BBC Films
