New stage adaptation of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis to tour UK

A new stage adaptation of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis is to tour the UK.

Frantic Assembly will collaborate with internationally celebrated poet, playwright and broadcaster Lemn Sissay OBE on the piece based on the iconic novella.

Directed by Frantic’s Artistic Director Scott Graham (Othello, Lovesong, Beautiful Burnout) the new production will premiere at Theatre Royal Plymouth from 12 – 16 September 2023, followed by an extensive tour including Leicester’s Curve 19 – 23 September 2023, MAST Mayflower Studios 26 – 30 September 2023 and a four week run at the Lyric Hammersmith Theatre from 1 February – 2 March 2024. Further tour venues to be announced soon.

Kafka’s Metamorphosis has burnt itself deep into our psyche. It is absurd and horrific. It is tragic and heart breaking. Gregor Samsa finds himself transformed from bread winner into burden. It is a devastating portrayal of a man trapped and crushed under the heel of a system that no longer finds him useful.

Metamorphosis is an inherently visceral production. It is about the limitations of the body and the mind, of our imagination and aspiration. It has such a rich and intense physicality that extends far beyond one character’s sudden transformation. It aches with the desire to break free and the violence of its suppression. All of this, coupled with the fluidity and lyricism of Lemn Sissay’s adaptation and the uncompromising physicality of Frantic Assembly, promises an exciting and dynamic show.

Lemn Sissay said: “This will be my second adaptation after Benjamin Zephaniah’s Refugee Boy in 2013. Words make movement, words precede movement and words (spoken or written) are movement. Frantic Assembly is the theatre of movement. My aim is to move the audience and to be moved. Metamorphosis is iconic. I am nervous, like an olympian, a long distance runner, the starting gun has fired, dust plumes beneath my feet, the end is a long way away. I pace myself, I focus and I concentrate…”

Scott Graham added: “I am absolutely buzzing to be collaborating with the wonderful Lemn Sissay. The potential of this project to spin physical and lyrical poetry around this classic story thrills me. This is a meeting of minds, ready to play and explore and find out what we can bring to this iconic title.”

This is Frantic Assembly’s first new production since 2019’s I Think We Are Alone and is a co-production with Theatre Royal Plymouth, Curve, MAST Mayflower Studios and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.

The full creative team will be announced in the new year.

For more information, visit franticassembly.co.uk