Hamskiptin 5 stjörnur í Time out

Vesturport sýndi Hamskiptin í Hong kong fyrir stuttu.  Alls voru sýndar fjórar uppseldar sýningar fyrir tæplega 5000 áhorfendur og fékk hún frábærar viðtökur og dóma í blöðunum.  Ferðalag sýningarinnar heldur áfram en sýndar verða um 20 sýningar í Tasmaníu og Ástralíu í mars og apríl.  Næsta verkefni Vesturports verður Fást en stefnt er að því að frumsýna hana næsta haust.

 Time out - Hong Kong gefur sýningunni 5 stjörnur:

Review: Metamorphosis

APA, Lyric Theatre Friday, February 20

Talk about suspending reality. For 80 minutes at the APA's Lyric Theatre, the brilliant Icelandic actor Gísli Örn Gardasson clambered, climbed, swung, swooped, and ultimately hung across, over, up, down, and from a set that brought forcefully to light a darkly sad, and -- strangely -- often funny tale of familial dysfunction and pyschological imprisonment in Kafka's Metamorphosis, a joint production by London's Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and Iceland's Vesturport.

The story of Metamorphosis -- adapted for the stage from Kafka's 1915 novella -- is centred on two rooms: a downstairs living room, and Gregor Samsa's (Gardasson) bedroom.

Gregor is confined to his bedroom -- seen here from the top-down, in opposition to the 'normal' world downstairs, which is viewed front-on -- where he awakes one day to find he is transforming into an insect (though it is never stated which type). Because he is late to work as a travelling salesman, he is struck by fear of losing his job and therefore the income that supports his entire family: devoted sister and violinist Grete (Lára Sveinsdóttir), sickly mother Frau Samsa (Kelly Hunter), and fiscally-obsessed father Herr Samsa (Ingvar E Sigurdsson). Unfortunately, his unfolding affliction renders him incomprehensible to others, and once revealed, his terrible form horrifies his family.

They lock him in his room, feeding him occassionally with old bread and mouldy cheese while they set out to work in order to claw back their debts. Gradually, Gregor becomes more and more grotesque to them, an imposition on their normal lives. As 'he' transmogrifies into an 'it' with which the family becomes increasingly disassociated, they take on a lodger, Herr Fischer (Jonathan McGuiness), an Aryan symbol of perfect manhood: he's a strapping rower who values hard work, and he's as virile as a stallion. McGuiness's spot-on portrayal of this insufferably smug character provides much comedy.

Gardasson's impressive physical feat as Gregor the insect is worth the ticket price alone. His scuttles, twists, and contortions as he leaps and swings from handhold to foothold and bar to box in his room are so seamless and elegant that they come to seem effortless, allowing the audience to forget that he is actually several feet above ground, often relying on brute strength to get from place to place. That he could perform such maneuvres while staying perfectly in character, wondrously expressive, and true to his dialogue makes it an even more confounding performance.

But the other players must also be commended: there is not a single weak performance in Metamorphosis. Each actor is convincing, portraying their flawed, complex and selfish characters with such adeptness as to engender (fleeting) sympathy and spite at the same time.

As the story works its way to its inevitable, tragic conclusion, the audience is also aware of a solemn, minimalist soundtrack provided by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis of the Bad Seeds. When Cave's famous baritone emerges in the twistedly euphoric final scene, it marks the climax of a truly special night of theatre.

Hamish McKenzie

Metamorphosis plays until Sunday, February 22