Nicole Newman
Drama
Metamorphosis
In social, historical and political context I will cover how Kafka is also linked to metamorphosis from his ideas. I will also link him to Befokk. I will look at Berkoff and link his back ground to Metamorphosis. I will also look at what the critics say about Befokk. Franz Kafka was one of the major fiction writers of the 20th century. Kafka is among the most influential in western theatre. His stories such as metamorphosis and the novels including the trail and the castle, concern troubled individuals in a nightmarishly impersonal. In Kafka’s life he was unhappy with his working time schedule, this links to the play as Gregor was not happy with his working days but had to do it to keep his family. His father often referred to his son’s job as insurance officer as a Brotberuf, literally bread job a job only done to pay the bills. That is a link to the play as Gregor only worked to help his parents to pay for the bills and that is how Kafka’s father thought of his job. Kafka showed a positive attitude at first, dedicating much of his free time to the business. This is just like Gregor as he spent all his free time studding on the job and put a lot of hard work and good effort into the job. Kafka was supported by his family but mostly by his younger sister Ottla. This links to Gregor and his sister Greta and that he was treated like Gregor within the sister relationship. Steven Berkoff is an English actor, writer and director. He is patron of the nightingale theatre in Brighton. He trained to be an actor at the Webber Douglas Academy in London and latter in Paris. In 1968 after working in repertory theatre, he founded the London theatre group. Berkoff has adapted a number of other classic works for the stage including Kafka metamorphosis. Berkoff was very influenced by Antonin Artaud. Artaud was born in 1894 he was a French play writer, poet, actor and director. Artaud said that the theatre should affect that audience as much as possible, therefore he used a mixture of strange and disturbing forms of lighting, sound and performances. Critics say that the people that have seen metamorphosis are not likely to forget his dynamic stage presence. But all his project and writing in various genres have in common is the intensely personal dimension that he brings to them. Befokk is one of the major minor contemporary dramatists in Britain and due to his self-fashioning as a bad boy of British theatre.
