‘Gregor, are you Unstable? Check your Bandwidth…’: Adapting Kafka for Zoom in Hijinx Theatre’s Metamorphosis

Abstract First performed live via Zoom in August 2020, Hijinx Theatre’s Metamorphosis was overtly tied to the cultural moment of the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a sense of shifting between perspectives on reality in its adaptation of Franz Kafka’s 1915 novella. The production itself appeared to be in a continual state of transformation: it shifted between scenes adapted from the novella, ‘behind-the-scenes’ vignettes in which the cast played fictionalised versions of themselves, and interactive interludes hosted by a compère-like character known as ‘the barman’. This article explores the effect of adapting Kafka’s story for the world of 2020 not only through the innovative ways in which Hijinx engaged with Zoom performance through their production at a time when experimentation with the platform as a theatrical space/medium was still very much in its infancy; but also through the manner in which the company adapted Kafka’s novella to reflect the cultural moment of the early months of lockdown. In doing so, this article considers the ways in which Hijinx’s Metamorphosis mercurially embodied both the hopelessness of life at the height of lockdown, and the optimism of being able to emerge from the tragedy and loss of the pandemic into a world with renewed hope.