Alienation in Kafka’s the Metamorphosis (on Stage): From Steven Berkoff’s Vision to Lemn Sissay’s Interpretation

Abstract

This study examines the phenomenon of alienation in two different theatre adaptations of Kafka’s The Metamor phosis. The adaptations examined in this study are Metamorphosis, written and directed by Steven Berkoff, which premiered at the London Round Theatre in 1969 and Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, adapted by Lemn Sissay for the Theatre Royal Plymouth in 2023. The phenomenon that Marx claimed that capitalism distances people from themselves, their labour and their environment, and theorized as alienation, remains a persistent thematic core in the two theatre adaptations, as in the original text. These productions not only reaffirm the alienation experienced by the protagonist Gregor Samsa, but also extend this condition to other members of the Samsa family, reflecting broader dimensions of alienation shaped by the patriarchal form of the society. Considering that the Berkoff version of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, which was first published in 1915, was created in 1969 and the Sissay version was created in 2023, it is obvious that capitalism has undergone a great change in the intervening 108 years by expanding its geographical and economic sphere of influence. The main subject of the study is to examine the economic and social realities of their periods in the Berkoff adaptation of the late 60s, when the footsteps of neoliberalism were heard, and the Sissay adaptations, which are the product of the post-neoliberal period. Using the historical comparative method, the study comparatively examines the alienation processes of the characters by placing the original text and the 1969 and 2023 adaptations in their historical contexts.

Keywords

• The Metamorphosis
• Alienation
• Franz Kafka
• Adaptation
• Contemporary Drama

References

1. Berkoff, S. (1995). Meditations on Metamorphosis. London: Faber and Faber. google scholar
2. Berkoff, S. (2017). The trial; Metamorphosis; In the penal colony: three theatre adaptations from Franz Kafka. London: Amber Lane Press, 2004. google scholar
3. Billington, M. (2006, October 5). Metamorphosis. The Guardian. Retrieved (22.06.2024) from https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/ oct/05/theatre google scholar
4. Bloom, H. (2007). Bloom’s guides: The Metamorphosis. New York: Infobase publishing. google scholar
5. Carroll, L. (2011). Alice’s adventures in wonderland. Ontario: Broadview Press, 2010. google scholar
6. Elliott, K. (2010). Adaptation as compendium: Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. Adaptation, 3(2), 193-201. google scholar
7. Farr, D., Kafka, F., & örn Gardarsson, G. (2006). Metamorphosis. London: Oberon Books. google scholar
8. Harvey, D. (2014). Seventeen contradictions and the end of capitalism. Oxford University Press. google scholar

9. Hennessy, K. (2017, May 18). 1984 review – stage adaptation confuses Orwell’s classic. The Guardian. Retrieved (21.06.2024) from https:// google scholar
10. www.theguardian.com/books/2017/may/19/1984-review-stage-adaptation-confuses-orwells-classic google scholar
11. Hutcheon, L. (2006). A theory of adaptation. London: Routledge. google scholar
12. Kafka. F. (2009). The Metamorphosis and other stories. Oxford University Press. google scholar
13. Leitch, T. (2012). Adaptation and intertextuality, or, what isn’t an adaptation, and what does it matter? A companion to literature, film, and adaptation, 85-104. google scholar
14. Marx, K. & Engels, F. (1988). Economic and philosophic manuscripts of 1844 and the Communist Manifesto. New York: Prometheus Books. google scholar
15. Mandel, E., & Novack, G. E. (1973). The Marxist theory of alienation: three essays. Pathfinder Press. google scholar
16. Musto, M. (2021). Karl Marx’s writings on alienation. London and Berlin: Springer Nature. google scholar
17. Rees, C. (2017). Adaptation and nation. London: Palgrave Macmillan. google scholar
18. Sanders, J. (2015). Adaptation and appropriation. London: Routledge. google scholar
19. Sayers, S. (2011). Marx and alienation: Essays on Hegelian themes. Springer. google scholar
20. Sissay, L (2023). Kafka’s Metamorphosis. London: NHB Books. google scholar
21. Standing, G. (2018). The precariat: Today’s transformative class? Development, 61, 115-121. google scholar
22. Standing, G. (2011). The Precariat: The new dangerous class. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. google scholar
23. Straus, N. P. (1989). Transforming Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 14(3), 651-667. google scholar
24. Wong, Y. (2022). Student alienation in higher education under neoliberalism and global capitalism: A case of community college students’ instrumentalism in Hong Kong. Community College Review, 50(1), 96-116. google scholar