Political Themes In The Metamorphosis By Steven Berkoff

This year we have been studying ‘The Metamorphosis’ by playwright Steven Berkoff; an adaptation of the novel by Franz Kafka. The play follows the story of Gregor, a working-class man who goes to sleep one evening and wakes up having transformed into a cockroach-like insect. The scene from the play that we have used as a stimulus was the scene in which Gregor actually transforms from a respected and depended upon son to being an alienated insect who is a burden to his family. In support of these themes, we have created a performance based on the 2008 recession , where thousands of people were affected and economically stable and dependent first world countries fell and transformed into countries where hundreds of thousands of people were†¦show more content†¦Brecht’s political theatre stems from his political views towards communism and the upper class society. Theatre that comments on political issues within society. Brecht began to have a dislike for th e capitalist society he was brought up in and wanted more of an equal approach to the world and the people around him. With epic theatre, Brecht wanted it to be both didactic (able to teach others) and dialectic (able to create discussions and ideas). The audience at no time during an epic play can be seen to be in a trance or take what they see on stage for granted. Our performance is reflective of Brecht and his Epic and Political theatre as we address many political topics such as Marxism and the divides between classes and the corruption of the government. We have props such as protest signs and banners to communicate Brecht’s political theatre to the audience. In the first episode, Brown’s Boys, there is a scene where MPs choke and die after ignoring the recession and protesters emerge into the audience chanting that ‘politics is dead’ and ‘they don’t really care about us’ while holding banners saying, ‘politics is deadâ€⠄¢ and ‘Gordon Clown’. This was done as it represented politics and the fact the seriousness of the situation was ignored; showing how quickly the issues with the recession spiralled out of control and became something that even the higher up in society were unable