Listen to a versatile conversation around Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung), between Dr. Seán Williams and guests, including Arthur Pita, the choreographer of the 2011 award-winning Royal Ballet dance theatre adaptation.

During life in lockdown, many of us are turning not only to literature but also to cultural performances streamed online. Prompted by the Royal Ballet’s 2011 adaptation of The Metamorphosis, Dr. Seán Williams talks about reading and watching Kafka in these confined and uncertain times. The podcast covers troubling themes, questions about catharsis as well as the arts, and finds creativity in crisis.

The host, Dr. Seán Williams, a lecturer at the University of Sheffield specialized in German and European Cultural History speaks to choreographer Arthur Pita, academics Lucia Ruprecht (Cambridge), Emily Troscianko (Oxford), and students Ben Whiteside, Jonny Shipton and Rowan Evenden (Sheffield).

Watch Arthur Pita’s Royal Ballet adaptation of The Metamorphosis until 17 May here.

A collaboration between the Ingeborg Bachmann Centre for Austrian Literature and Culture, the University of Sheffield and in conjunction with the ACF London.

Produced by Seán Williams, with sound engineering by Iain Hunter.