We are studying Metamorphisis, originally written by Franz Kafka, and most famously directed by Steven Berkoff.

In the piece that I am going to perform, the character that I will play is Mrs Samsa. Mrs Samsa is 45, and is the mother of arguably the main character, Gregor. Mrs Samsa is forced to adopt the role of the traditional housewife where she cooks, cleans etc. She doesn’t have much say in the house, and is constantly undermined by her dominant husband, Mr Samsa. She has a very nice personality where she’s is portrayed as soft, loving, affectionate to her family. She shows this when she tries to help Gregor as Mr Samsa hurls apples at Gregor.

I intend to play my character with her eyes towards the floor when Mr Samsa is around, to portray and underline her position in the family, and strengthen Mr Samsa’s. When Mr Samsa is not around, I will play her as a more confident character, where she stands up straighter and has more eye contact with other characters, which is showing to the audience that she feels more confident and feels as though she has slightly more power when Mr Samsa isn’t present. In terms of how I present her vocally, I will keep a soft and angelic voice throughout our piece, to show the audience her personality and her feelings when in certain situations. I don’t feel to have an accent throughout the piece, as I believe it does not really add any effect to the performance.

The social, historical and political context that our performance focuses on is to do with what the meaning of family is, what the roles of the members in the typical family are, and how the relationship between a family changes in certain circumstances.

My group has decided to base and relate the ideas on the play to the recent American election which was won by Donald Trump. This recent event closely relates with the deeper meaning of metamorphosis, in the sense that this election has split America apart in the same way that Gregor and the family’s morales started to fall apart and disintegrate. This links to our stimulus, as it helps us unravel our central question which is “What is the true meaning of family?”.

Plot (simplified): One day, Gregor Samsa, a sales man wakes up to find himself transformed into a beetle. His family notice immediately that something is not right, as they know that he is very punctual when going to work. His family ask him to come out and ask him whats wrong, but he is hesitant to reveal what happened and they start to become worried. In the midst of the havoc in the house, the Chief Clerk of his firm entered the household and forces Gregor’s bedroom door open, only to find that Gregor had turned into an insect. In fear, the Chief Clerk runs out of the house, generating even more fear into the heart of the house. Greta (Gregors sister) and Mrs Samsa (Gregors mum) are adamant to be helpful towards Gregor, and show compassion for his situation, whereas Mr Samsa (Gregor’s dad) is willing to abandon Gregor, as he is ruining the family name, even after he has been providing for the family. As time wears on, even Greta and Mrs Samsa start to forget about Gregor, and are not bothered anymore. They started off treating him like he was still human, an example of this is how they left his furniture so that he feels more normal and feeding him with a plate, whereas towards the end of the play they start to dump food and furniture into his room and treat him more like what he physically is.. a creature, they don’t care about how he feels. Eventually the family completely forget about Gregor who is locked away in his room.. helpless and with no support. The family leave him to starve and rot to death while they carry on with their life as if he never existed.