The Theatre at St Anne’s College will present Metamorphosis by
Steven Berkoff on March 19 to 22, 2026, at 19h30.
As Gregor Sama awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.
nday 19th – Thursday 22nd March @ 7.30 pm, R50
Booking on 033 343 6100 or twoodgate@stannes.co.za
Metamorphosis is produced by The Theatre-St Anne’s College as their 2018 Major Production, directed by Lynn Chemaly. The production is highly stylised and theatrical and serves as an excellent example of twentieth century Absurdist theatre in content, style and form. Berkoff injects the script with both bizarre and comic elements, resulting in an entertaining production.
Existentialist writer, Franz Kafka’s novella, Die Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis) was first published in 1915. His work, which fuses elements of realism and the fantastic, typically features isolated protagonists faced by bizarre or surrealistic predicaments and incomprehensible social-bureaucratic powers, and explores themes of alienation, existential anxiety, guilt and absurdity. Re-interpreted in 1972 by playwright, Steven Berkoff, Metamorphosis expresses certain basic conflicts in the human condition: What is real and what is fantasy? How can we exist in the inflexible, bureaucratic structures of employment and mundane daily life? How do we fit into our family, our community, and the world? Why do we feel isolated and dis-connected from others? What is the ultimate freedom from human suffering?
At a time when connectedness has never been more prevalent in our global community, via mass communication and driven by technology, we appear more dis-connected than ever before. Differences of race, class, culture, language and gender have never been more high profile, and seemingly acceptable, and yet remain the sources of our greatest fear, anxiety and conflict. Perhaps our greatest contemporary fear is that of the ‘other’? Twenty first century society propels the notion of choice, freedom of speech and democracy, where individualism is made to appear desirable and powerful. Yet, in amongst all this apparent freedom, never have people been more easily manipulated, channelled, segregated and controlled into rigid patterns of living, acting, thinking and behaving.
Tickets R50 – bookings on 033 343 6100 or twoodgate@stannes.co.za
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