The Metamorphosis

“When Gregor Samsa woke up from restless dreams one morning, he found himself transformed into a tremendous pest in his bed. ”

With these words, the metamorphosis of cloth merchant Gregor from man to beetle begins: Gregor waking up is immersing himself in a nightmare from which there is no awakening. In three chapters, Kafka describes the unstoppable process of alienation from himself and from the social environment — a story of total communicative failure.

The ATZE Music Theatre brings Kafka's most famous story to the stage as a staged reading with music. The music is closely linked to the story, illustrates and comments on the events in constant “interaction” with the speaker.

Surrounded by language and music, the audience is physically immersed in the scene. Kafka's grotesque world of images is thus created from the imaginative power of language and the immediate sound world of music in the viewer's mind.