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| Harrison Coffman in Metamorphosis. Photo – The Alley Theater. |
Metamorphosis
By
Franz Kafka
Directed
by Martin French
Reviewed
by Craig Nolan Highley
Entire
Contents Copyright © 2013, Craig Nolan Highley. All rights reserved.
Most
of us remember Franz Kafka’s surrealist classic Metamorphosis from being forced to read it in school. It certainly
is a bizarre story, that of a salesman waking up one morning to discover he’s
been turned into a giant insect. Like it or not, once you read the opening
sentence, you are compelled to find out more.
It’s
not well known as a stage play, however, and that’s where Louisville’s own
Alley Theater comes in. As directed by Martin French, the Alley’s current
production is a faithful adaptation of the weird tale and is mostly successful
at keeping the audience’s attention for its intermission-free, 90-minute
runtime.
For
the most part it’s very well acted. Harrison Coffman commands the stage as the
tortured Gregor Samsa, the tragic protagonist. He seems a bit young for the
role but conveys the emotions of the character nicely and gives easily the best
performance in the piece. Taking a cue from the stage version of The Elephant Man, he performs the
deformed character without the aid of makeup. While I think I would prefer to
have seen more suggestions of the insect in his physicality, he made some bold
choices that I think worked well in the context of this production.
There
is also some nice work done by Madeleine Dee as Gregor’s devoted and devastated
sister Greta; she is never less than believable as the character goes from
heartbroken to heartless as her sympathy for Gregor’s plight erodes. And kudos
to Alphaeus Green Jr. for his fearless portrayal of three different characters.
He’s all bluster and arrogance as Gregor’s employer and the family’s lodger,
and brings some welcome (if misplaced) comic relief in the drag role of the
family maid.
I
didn’t quite get the director’s choice of casting a high school girl and a
middle school boy as Gregor’s parents. Cassie Emert and Edward Streeter look to
have promising acting careers ahead of them, but casting such young actors in
these roles completely takes you out of the story. According to the director’s
notes, this was a conscious choice to make a statement about youth vs. age; but
with the rest of the cast also being so young, the point is lost. At times I
felt like I was watching a school production.
Unfortunately
the production also gives in to one of my pet peeves. There are signs that an
effort was made to pad the running time; the pacing was often very slow and at
times literally nothing was happening for minutes at a time. (A sequence with
Greta cleaning Gregor’s room, for example, without any dialogue and with
nothing else happening, seemed to go on forever.) Really, if you have a short
script, present a short play. Dragging it out unnecessarily can really test an
audience’s patience.
But
even with the above shortcomings, the play holds your interest all the way to
its sad conclusion. Watching the family’s reaction to Gregor’s plight move from
initial horror, to sympathy and compassion, then to bitter resentfulness as the
nightmare goes on is tough going and may make us think a bit too much about
where we are all headed when old age or infirmity makes us a burden to our
family.
Overall
it is a good production benefiting from a strong cast and intriguing source
material. If you can forgive some pacing issues and open your mind to its
themes, you may find yourself caught up in the story. It will certainly make
you think differently, which I’m sure is what Kafka intended all along.
Featuring
Harrison Coffman, Madeleine Dee, Cassie Emert, Alphaeus Green Jr. and Edward
Streeter.
Metamorphosis
September
12-28, 2013
Tickets
$20
All
shows at 7:30 pm
Industry
Night: $12 tickets - Monday, September 16
The Alley Theater
1205 East Washington Street
Louisville, KY 40202
502-589-3866
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