Drama students at Solihull Sixth Form College have been inspired by playwright Steven Berkoff in producing a performance of ‘Metamorphosis’ this month.
Year 12 learners on the A level Drama & Theatre course performed extracts from the Berkoff play, which was inspired by Kafka’s work, on Wednesday 8 February in front of an audience of friends, family and staff. ‘Metamorphosis’ tells the story of travelling salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect. The play involves a lot of physical theatre, which the students enjoyed portraying with the use of a large set with scaffolding.
These performances form part of the A level Drama course, in which students explore three contrasting plays from three different contexts that will not only enable students to widen their repertoire of theatre but to challenge them. This term, students have been learning about Berkoff’s surrealist style of theatre and exploring ways to communicate meaning through the actor’s body.
Drama teacher Nadia Kouhi commented:
“The students have been working incredibly hard to bring Berkovian theatre to life. Because of the physical nature of this style of theatre, they are able to experiment with abstract movement and choral work. They have enjoyed creating their extracts and it was great for an audience to enjoy it as well.”
13 February 2023