Introduction to the Working Record

Playwright of Metamorphosis, Steven Berkoff was born in East London on the 3rd of August 1939. His family was Jewish and originally of Russian and Romanian descent. His father adjusted their original name of “Berkoff” to “Berks”, he done this so that their arrival in England was more fitting in the new community they were being part of. Berkoff had passionate political views on Zionism, where he openly expresses his belief that Jews are owed or are yet to own a long lost homeland (the Gaza strip in Palestine).

The Social context of the play his based of Franz Kafka’s life (the writer of the original novel), and how he was neglected by his father as a child growing up. This is expressed through the letter he wrote about his feelings towards his father, (which was never published until his death) and his emotions as a child whilst enduring these “torments”. This is associated with Gregor’s position in the play, as he is constantly mistreated by his family, just as Franz was in his early life. His intentions were to reflect his experiences with his father to the audience and what it was like to be an outcast to society.

The similarities between Berkoff and Kafka, are that they are both Jewish which is significant, as they both know what it is like to be an outlier in society. This helps to strengthen the interpretation of the play through their experiences.

The main theme of the text is questioning what family really is, in theory, family is unity, love, looking out for eachother etc. However, Berkoff and Kafka contradict and reject this idea, by using past experiences to show that family is more than what most people think.

What intrigues me about the play, is how they use a beetle to represent how the stress of providing for the family, forces him to take the form of a creature. Another interesting factor, is how the family start off treating Gregor’s situation with compassion and understanding, but as the play progresses, their compassion and understanding turns into disregard and not bothering to carry out fundamental actions, like feeding him. On the other hand, what I find upsetting about the text, is how Gregor Is unable to communicate to his family how he feels being trapped in an insects body. As a member of the audience, I find it particularly frustrating that he struggles to communicate to his family his wants aevolves around ideas on human society and communication between individuals or a group of people. If we put this in the context of the play, there are two reactions portrayed during periods of difficulty, as Gregor has a more optimistic outlook on the situation, whereas his family find it harder to tolerate and cope with these times of hardship. There is a link between how there was a time when Jews could not access rights, and were not socially accepted to how Gregor was not so kindly received by his family, which adds emphasis to this concept of lack of social acceptance included within Berfoff’s play.

In the play, the female characters are displayed as traditional women of that period in time, and are given the stereotypical house wife role. The opposite is done with the male characters because on the other hand, Mr Samsa does not provide the money for the family, but still demands the same level of respect and treatment as the ‘man of the house’. In terms of individual culture, each character in the play is not very well educated, meaning the only culture they are prone to know of is of their own.

In Franz Kafka’s life, he never had a very stable relationship with his father, as they were quite distant, in a sense that Kafka felt he was always held responsible for the things that didn’t go well in nd needs, as it only causes them to do things that they think will benefit him, when in reality it doesn’t. An example of this, is when Mrs Samsa and Greta try to remove the furniture from his room to give him more space, but Gregor attacks them in an attempt to show that he does not want his furniture to be removed, as he still wants a sense of normality and would like his belongings with him.

Something that I would question about the play, is why a beetle was specifically chosen for Gregor to transform into. There are a number of species available, which is why the beetle must be significant to Kafka.

An artistic feature, is the use of the unique personalities, to shape the characters throughout the play, in order to add emphasis to the changing mood in the family, as they adapt to Gregor’s new form.

The genre of the text is Tragedy, as throughout the play, Gregor is brought to ruins and is unable to cope with the unfavourable circumstances. This was portrayed consistently through his neglect and sudden and tragic death, which slowly and painfully progressed, in order to have a more powerful effect on the audience.

In the play, the performance style is abstract and not literal, in the sense that Gregor is usually not actually put in a beetle costume, but is shown to the audience through dance-like actions, and behaviour to give a more engaging look to the audience. Lighting is also used effectively to reflect each characters moods, feelings and personalities. For example, when Gregor attacks Mrs Samsa and Greta, red lighting is commonly associated to represent Gregor’s anger and frustration.

The Central Question that I’m going to explore is: “What is the true meaning of family?”. The reason I want to explore this question, is because being in a family is supposed to be a safe environment, but considering Kafka’s and Berkoff’s life experiences, I wonder whether there is a different dimension to the true meaning of family.