Near January’s end, Theatre Gigante reached into the heart and humanity of horror in its one-weekend adaptation of Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis at Kenilworth 508 Theatre. Isabelle Kralj wrote and directed the studio theater adaptation with Ben Yela playing the voice of salesman Gregor Samsa and Gregor’s physicality enacted with dynamic dramatics by Edwin Olvera. As the story began, Olvera gracefully cascaded through a well-ordered life. One morning he awoke to find himself transformed into a large bug. Things got considerably more complicated for Gregor and his family. With no insect costuming or makeup effects to distract emotion, Kralj’s vision of the story focused on human reaction and interaction afflicted by physical transformation.
As Yela and Olvera played out the dialogue between Gregor’s consciousness and body, Selena Milewski gave a beautifully vibrant performance as Gregor’s sister. Hannah Klapperich-Mueller played his tenderly horrified mother and Ron Scot Fry projected an aggressively earthbound pragmatism as his father.
Things got ugly as things do when physical infirmities become burdensome. Father attacked Gregor with apples shattering against the smooth blackness of the floor. Yela and Olvera dunked heads into a massive bowl to feed on milk and soaked bread in a splattering mess. There were no mandibles. There were no antennae. There was only smashed apples and spilled milk in the chilling shock of a drama of human infirmity. In that space everyone seemed to be twitching and buzzing in different ways including Gregor, his mind, his family and those who had come to watch.
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Theatre Gigante’s next production is Rok Vilčnik’s stage adaptation of Tarzan, March 16-24 in Kenilworth 508. For more information, visit theatregigante.org.
