- Chinese Title: 「蛻變」
- Producer: Lin Hsiu-wei (林秀偉)
- Libretto: Chang Ta-chuen (張大春)
- Composer: Wang I-yu (王乙聿)
- Aria Arrangement: Li Lian-bi (李連璧)
- Set & Lighting Design: Lin Keh-hua (林克華)
- Image and Visual Design: Ethan Wang (王奕盛)
- Lighting Design: Kao I-hua (高一華)
- Performed By: Contemporary Legend Theatre, Wu Hsing-kuo
Gregor Samsa, a travelling salesman and sole breadwinner for his family, awakes one day to discover that he has been transformed into a giant insect. Unable to communicate and shocking to anyone who sees him, he is forced into a solitary existence confined to his room. As he becomes insufferable to himself and a burden to his family, when death finally comes it is a relief, freeing him from the anxieties of everyday life.
Contemporary Legend Theatre's Wu Hsing-kuo returns with a mesmerizing deconstruction of Franz Kafka's seminal novella. Through poetry, music and live interplay with video projections, Wu showcases the spectacular techniques, color and flair of traditional Peking Opera to transport Kafka's early 20th-century tale of disaffection, anxiety, solitude and loneliness from industrial Europe to a fantasy world laced with the beauty of ancient Eastern cultures.
'Contemporary Legend Theatre's Wu Hsing-kuo presents a singular and striking vision of Gregor's insectoid transformation: and in the process flips over the very concept of existence to examine the scuttling legs beneath.' - Edinburgh Spotlight
"The cross cultural exchange between the 20th century European text and Oriental spirituality alleviates and resolves much of the futility and hopelessness the original narrative evokes … Wu's creation is undoubtedly mesmerising and contains a welcome element of hope and the chance of peace, something Kafka's original text withholds." – Glasgow University Magazine
"By the end, Gregor may have been abandoned, but, in Wu's hands, he has managed to shed his old skin enough to find liberation enough to soar." – Herald Scotland's Neil Cooper
"One of those frustrating productions that is impossible not to admire for its imagination, its elegance and a committed solo performance from Wu." – The Telegraph's Mark Monahan