Kafka’s Metamorphosis: The Musical! With Puppets! – Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Morgan Smith, Blake Du Bois, Kaia Fitzgerald, and Luis Rivera in Kafka’s Metamorphosis: The Musical! With Puppets! at the Pleasance Dome – Ace Dome, Edinburgh. Picture: Matthew Turner

Kafka’s Metamorphosis: The Musical! With Puppets! continues at the Pleasance Dome – Ace Dome until 26 August 2024.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

Is telling one of Kafka’s landmark works with puppets a good idea? It’s a GREAT idea!

Firstly, try and forget anything you know about Kafka. Better still, if you’ve never tussled with Kafkaesque reason, this is the show for you.

Blake Du Bois plays Kafka/Gregor with precision, great physical talent, wit and skilful puppetry. The puppets are designed by Spencer Lott, an artist from the Henson stable, producing a perfect ‘companion’. Du Bois is highly watchable and great to listen to. The ensemble is introduced dressed as school children reading books, giving a naivety to the ‘reading’ that is a real pleasure to enjoy.

As each of them become part of the ‘Samsa’ household, they have the opportunity to develop their character’s story.  The trio – Morgan Smith (Grete), Kaia Fitzgerald (Mother Samsa) and Luis Rivera (Father) – work perfectly well together, but it is in their solo numbers that they excel. Brilliantly written by Matt Chiorini and Travis Newton, the confusion of Kafka’s work remains a rather pleasing puzzle as the metamorphosis progresses.

Alan Muraoka’s direction brings clarity and just the right degree of relationship with the audience, particularly during the Franz Kafka/Gregor Samsa soliloquies. The music is hugely satisfying and feels altogether both familiar yet new.

This show (presented by Throughline Projects in association with Rocket Productions) is absurd, funny and sprinkled with genius. A special mention for the final scene – just perfect. Pretty sure Kafka would ‘get’ this.

Fiona Orr