Insurgo’s ‘Kafka Fable’ exciting, raw

It would be overly generous to call Shawn Hackler's original "Morphotic: A Kafka Fable" a good play, but the Insurgo production already is an exciting one.

Hackler uses the writings of Franz Kafka to tell the man's life story. Though the show can be enjoyed on its own, you can't really appreciate the degree of skill involved in Hackler's work unless you know Kafka and can see where the legend's words end, Heckler's begin, and the twain meet. The novella "The Metamorphosis," for example, is about a young man who suddenly finds himself helpless in his bedroom as he turns into a "monstrous vermin." Here, Hackler similarly traps the man in his bedroom, but the "monstrous vermin" winds up being tuberculosis, which took Kafka's life at the age of 40. The show features sudden bursts of applause from an unseen audience, as if to suggest Kafka's life was a performance, watched and evaluated to this very day. The tales of woe are sometimes interrupted by doo-wop, jazz, interpretative dance, and even the Charleston -- as if to remind us that Kafka transcends time.

The script reads like a matter-of-fact drama -- the portrait of an artist as an understandably miserable person -- but Hackler as director infuses the world with an irresistible nightmare quality. His visuals (greatly aided by Gregg Gerrietts and Vijay Walker's peculiarly appropriate video designs) unexpectedly overwhelm you with dreamlike movements, startling colors and harmonious stage compositions. In addition to his superb writing and directing, Hackler also designed the haunting set and lights. He doesn't just "pass" with these multi-tasks. He's exemplary with all four. For all the literary foundations, Hackler speaks with his own theatrical voice.

There are some major imperfections that seem fixable. The character of Kafka is one-note. It's tough to write a whiny lead character without turning off your audience. Kafka needs different shades. The second act feels way too long because Hackler repeats. And sometimes Kafka's literature is read to us, rather than dramatized.

Most of the actors walk about in an appropriately robotic state, but there's more to them than Hackler as director has been able to realize. And while Cynthia Vodovoz as Franz throws herself into the role with startling ferocity, she's too vocally monotonous for us to enjoy being in her company.

But even in its embryonic development, this seedling of an idea makes for a major event. It has epic sweep, power, and vision. The show demands the respect of rewrites.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.