Metamorphosis

This dance grotesque based on the first published story by Franz Kafka will set you in a serious, reckless and a bit jazzy mood.

The frightening metamorphosis of the unhappy Řehoř overnight will disrupt relations in the family and its surroundings. The affected hero tries to approach others so stubbornly that he is ridiculous and touching at the same time, and we are led to the absurd factual realisation that peace comes only by removing an individual who does not fit into the notion of normalcy. What if everyone is really better without him?

Kafka’s short story from 1915 has earned countless different interpretations. For DEKKADANCERS, the biggest challenge is to transfer the author’s dry, matter-of-fact style into choreography and stylisation of the scene and music. The performance also works with quotations from the original text, which were voiced by the actor Jiří Lábus.

The choreography was prepared by Ondřej Vinklát and Štěpán Pechar. Ondřej Vinklát also plays the role of the clerk Řehoř Samsa in the performance: “The literary world of Franz Kafka, one of our greatest writers, is not only a chilling personal statement of the author struggling with his demons, but also an absurd parallel to any time. After all, the world in which we live seems to have fallen out of the beetle’s ass … And whoever says no, let them turn into a dung beetle, ” Ondřej Vinklát explains the relevance of Kafka’s more than a hundred-year-old short story.

The director of the production is Štěpán Benyovszký, who has collaborated with the ensemble as a director and dramaturgist on other successful performances The Last Supper or A.I.

Warning: A strobe light is used during the performance.

“The dose of tragicomedy succeeds, laughter-inducing caricatures alternate with the main protagonist’s real despair. It is not cheap entertainment or a heavy-handed production that would plunge the viewer into depressive feelings, although everyone has to believe Ondřej Vinklát depicting Řehor’s suffering.”

– Opera+