Powerful new production of Kafka’s Metamorphosis - Worthing and Guildford dates

Directed by Frantic Assembly’s artistic director Scott Graham and adapted by poet, playwright and broadcaster Lemn Sissay, Metamorphosis is Frantic Assembly’s first new production since 2019. Metamorphosis will run at the Connaught Theatre from Tuesday-Saturday, October 3-7. It also plays Guildford’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre from November 21-25.

A spokesman said: “This thrilling collaboration combines the fluidity and lyricism of Lemn Sissay’s adaptation and Frantic’s uncompromising physicality. It promises to be an unmissable retelling of Franz Kafka’s shocking tale of cruelty and kindness; a vital depiction of humans struggling within a system that crushes them under its heel.

“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. It is an exciting and dynamic show.

“One morning Gregor Samsa awakes to find himself changed. To those around him he is dangerous, untouchable vermin. Worse than that, he is a burden.

“A word said, an action out of place, the opening of old wounds, none of which can be undone. Until now Gregor has woken every morning, quietly left to take the same train and worked to pay off the family debt. But that world explodes on this morning of brutal metamorphosis.”

Lemn Sissay said: “This will be my second adaptation after Benjamin Zephaniah's Refugee Boy in 2013. Words make movement, words precede movement and word, 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 n ervous, 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.”

Metamorphosis runs at the Connaught Theatre from Tuesday, October 3 to Saturday, October 7. Tickets are available from £15. For more information or to book your tickets visit www.wtm.uk or call the WTM Box Office on 01903 206206.

Commissioned and produced by Frantic Assembly, in a co-production with Theatre Royal Plymouth, Curve, MAST Mayflower Studios and Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. The cast is Troy Glasgow – Mr Samsa; Joe Layton – chief clerk/lodger; Louise Mai Newberry – Mrs Samsa; Felipe Pacheco – Gregor; and Hannah Sinclair Robinson – Grete.