I was very much looking forward to this and maybe had set my expectations too high. Having read the book in preparation, I was disappointed by Nick Gill's adaptation of a masterwork. Characters had changed completely, including their gender; new scenes had been inserted; the tone and content of other scenes had been greatly altered. None of which would particularly matter if they were enhancements. But I thought this rewriting lost the masterful rendition of the Kafkaesque as conveyed by Kafka - unlike, say the ROH's brilliant Metamorphosis.
Of course, there were elements that came across but the book is a nightmare from start to finish - uninterrupted. Here there was too much that let the audience relax a little.
My reservations are mainly to do with the text presented to the Director. The stage was arresting - a conveyor belt through the middle of the theatre that ushered up new scenes. The acting, particularly by Rory Kinnear, was superb. However, the lighting was too bright - the book conveys well a dreary Winter melancholy and the seating, at least where I was sat, was staggeringly uncomfortable.
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