Cast

ROBERT PUGH -  Mr Samsa
Robert Pugh trained at the Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama and has worked extensively across theatre, television and film. Plays have included One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, A Streetcar named Desire, Macbeth and The Iceman Cometh. His television work has included ITV’s Inspector Morse, BBC TV’s Silent Witness, Drovers' Gold and The White Queen, Film 4’s Dance to the Music of Time and Sky Atlantic’s international hit Game of Thrones. He co-starred in the BBC drama series The Lakes, played Goering in the war-criminal drama Nuremberg and featured in The Shadow Line. His many films include Polanski's The Ghost, Master and Commander, Kinky Boots, Enigma, Priest, Superman III, West is West and The Tichborne Claimant, where he played opposite Sir John Gielgud.

MAUREEN LIPMAN  - Mrs Samsa
Maureen Lipman trained at LAMDA and learned her trade in Laurence Olivier's Company at the Old Vic from 1970. Since then she has become one of Britain's most prolific and best-loved actresses. Her many West End stage appearances include Oklahoma, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Trevor Nunn's A Little Night Music and J B Priestley's When We Are Married. Her feature films include Up The Junction, Gumshoe, Educating Rita and Roman Polanski's The Pianist. She was married to the screen writer, the late Jack Rosenthal, for 31 years and starred in several of his award-winning television films, amongst them The Evacuees, The Knowledge and Eskimo Days. She is well-known for playing Joyce Grenfell in the biographical show Re: Joyce!, which she co-wrote, and for Beattie, a series of award-winning television commercials for British Telecom. She was recently to be seen in the ITV comedy series Plebs.

LAURA REES - Grete Samsa
Laura Rees trained at the Welsh College of Music and Drama. Her stage work includes Ophelia in Hamlet at London's Barbican, Cecily Cardew in The Importance of Being Earnest and Jean Rice in John Osborne's The Entertainer at Manchester's Royal Exchange; Viola in Twelfth Night at Chichester Festival Theatre, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet for The English Touring Theatre, Luciana in The Comedy of Errors at Shakespeare's Globe and the title role in Iphigenia at Bath's Theatre Royal. In 2010 she was part of the ensemble that performed The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, directed by Christopher Morahan, at Liverpool and Chichester. On television she has appeared in Holby City, Where the Heart Is and Lewis. Her previous feature film role was in Richard Curtis' Love Actually. Laura received an Ian Charleson award nomination for her role as Lavinia in Titus Andronicus at The Globe.

CHLOE HOWMAN - Anna
Chloe Howman trained at LAMDA and has been a regular on numerous television series including Life Begins, Mutual Friends, Making Waves, Casualty, Holby Blue, New Tricks, Doctors, Ghost Squad and The Bill. She played the role of Iris Marle in the Agatha Christie TV film Sparkling Cyanide, Cassie Page in Double Time and Heather in Me & Mrs Jones with Robson Green. She was seen as Tara in Moving On, Jane in A Christmas Carol and Julie-Ann for two years in Channel 5's Family Affairs. She played the lead role opposite Ray Winstone in the independent feature film Fathers of Girls. She us well known for her portrayal of Rita Freeman in the BBC TV series Casualty from 2013 to 2016.

AIDAN McARDLE - The First Lodger
Aidan McArdle made his professional debut at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin playing Don Parritt in The Iceman Cometh, and was nominated for an Olivier Award for his portrayal of Donal Davoren in Sean O'Casey's The Shadow of a Gunman for the Tricycle Theatre. He was the youngest actor ever to play the role of Richard III in the history of The Royal Shakespeare Company and has appeared in many other RSC productions. His television credits include both series of the BBC's Garrow's Law, Jane Eyre, The Reckoning and Footprints in the Snow. He played Dudley Moore to Rhys Ifans' Peter Cook in the highly acclaimed Not Only But Always. His film credits include Killing Bono, Me and Orson Welles, E=MC2 Einstein's Big Idea, and as Richard Brinsley Sheridan in The Duchess,starring Keira Knightley. More recently his television work has included the role of Lord Loxley in two series of ITV’s immensely popular Mr Selfridge.

PAUL THORNLEY - The Second Lodger

Paul Thornley’s numerous television roles have included Holby City, Above Suspicion, Silk, Just William, Poirot, No-one Can Hear You Scream, Murderland, Mutual Friends, The Bill, Ashes to Ashes, Foyle's War, Rapunzel, Love Soup, Life Begins, Death Becomes Him, Green Wing and Midsomer Murders. His theatre work has included the West End hit Noises Off by Michael Frayn. Paul appeared at The National Theatre in the critically acclaimed London Road. His film work has included Les Misérables and The Dinosaur Project. His voice work has been on Coppers, The Family and Stephen Leather's Jack Nightingale Trilogy. He recently starred as Ron Weasley in the London stage version of  J.K.Rowling’s Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, and then took the role to Broadway.

ALISTAIR PETRIE -  The Supervisor
Alistair Petrie trained at LAMDA. His stage work includes many productions at The National Theatre including His Dark Materials and Rupert Goold's production of Time and The Conways as well as Brand for the RSC at The Haymarket and The Importance of Being Earnest at The Savoy Theatre. Television roles include Major Rod Gilchrist in The Mark of Cain, Major Gordon in the multi-award winning Cranford, George Forsyte in The Forsyte Saga and Basil Dean in the BBC's biopic of Gracie Fields with Jane Horrocks, and Sir James Goldsmith in the mini series Lucan. His feature film work includes The Bank Job directed by Roger Donaldson, A Bunch of Amateurs alongside Burt Reynolds, Cloud Atlas with Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Susan Sarandon, The Duchess with Keira Knightley and Ralph Fiennes, the role of Stirling Moss in the Niki Lauda biopic Rush directed by Ron Howard, and Hampstead with Brendan Gleeson and Diane Keaton.

LIAM McKENNA - The Third Lodger

Liam McKenna  trained at LAMDA. His varied theatre work has included The People Downstairs at the Young Vic, The Count of Monte Cristo at the Manchester Royal Exchange, and Peter Pan, The Villains' Opera, Money, The Merchant of Venice and Summerfolk at the National Theatre, both the latter productions being directed by Trevor Nunn. On television he has appeared in Hustle, Spooks, Holby Blue, Judge John Deed, The Bill, Minder, Hollyoaks, The Greatest Heist and Ultimate Force. His films have included The Libertine, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Venus, David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises, The Disappearance of Alice Creed and Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows ( part 2).

TIM PIGOTT-SMITH - Narrator

Tim Pigott-Smith trained at the Bristol Old Vic. His extensive TV career has included the role of Lt Col Ronald Merrick in the seminal ITV series The Jewel in the Crown, for which he won a BAFTA award for Best Actor. A vast numbr of film, television and radio roles followed, amongst them the massively successful ITV series Downton Abbey, as well as The Bletchley Circle and The Great Train Robbery. He played P.G.Wodehouse in the BBC TV drama Wodehouse in Exile and was recently seen in the BBC TV series of Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall. Tim's numerous film credits include Tim Burton' Alice in Wonderland, Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York and the James Bond film, Quantam of a Solace. His successful and respected theatre career has earned him plentiful recognition, including the Olivier Award Best Actor Nomination for Rupert Goold's Enron and the Theatre Awards UK 2012 nomination Best Performance for King Lear. The sudden and untimely death of Tim Pigott-Smith was announced in April 2017.

JANET HENFREY - The Cleaning Lady
Janet Henfrey trained at RADA. Some of the most notable amongst her long list of credits are Denis Potter's BBC TV drama series The Singing Detective, seven years in the popular comedy As Time Goes By as well as roles in Tipping the Velvet and Doctors. Her stage work has included The House of Bernarda Alba, Lettice and Lovage, Orpheus Descending at the Donmar Warehouse directed by Nicholas Hytner, and The Black Rider at London's Barbican, San Francisco and Sydney. She played Miss Prism in The Importance of Being Earnest at the Vaudeville Theatre directed by Peter Gill, and the Widow in All's Well that Ends Well at the National Theatre. She was named best supporting actress by the Manchester Evening News for her performance as Mrs Railton Bell in Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables at the Manchester Royal. She was recently to be seen in the multi-award winning television series Wolf Hall.

CHRIS SWANTON - Director, Co-Producer, Screenwriter

Metamorphosis is Chris Swanton's directorial debut.  Chris first encountered Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (Die Verwandlung) as a student of German at King's College London and immediately fell under its spell. His academic career led him to teach in West Germany, during which time he spent a summer in the then East Germany studying the production techniques of Bertolt Brecht with the Berliner Ensemble at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. His was awarded a PhD for his thesis on Brecht’s dramatic technique.
His career about turned and he joined the Ealing Studio cutting rooms for the BBC in 1982, remaining with the Corporation for over 17 years.  He has over 60 screen credits to his name, won a BAFTA for his contribution to the acclaimed series Edge of Darkness and was nominated in the following year for the Falklands drama Tumbledown.

JOHN DALY - The Director of Photography

John began his career as a trainee assistant cameraman with the BBC Film Department based at Ealing Studios. After shooting numerous dramas and documentaries, he won his first BAFTA award for Jane Austen's Persuasion and was nominated the following year for the epic drama serial Our Friends in the North as well as gaining an RTS nomination for Arthur Miller's Broken Glass. John won a second BAFTA for Granada TV's Far from the Madding Crowd and was later nominated once again for the BBC adaptation of Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky.

As a freelancer, his feature film credits have included The Parole Officer, Greenfingers, Essex Boys, Fanny and Elvis and Titanic Town.

WILLIAM ROCKALL - Visual Effects Director

Co-founder of the award-winning CG company Jellyfish Pictures, William Rockall  branched out to form RockKiss Digital Media Entertainment, now Pearl DME, encompassing many disciplines from animation and effects in TV drama and film, to series development, online and games production. Will and his business partner, CG Supervisor Simon Hodgkiss, were the main creative forces behind the realisation of Kafka's insect.

LESLEY McNEIL - The Producer

Lesley began her film career with a natural history unit at London Zoo, then moved to Granada Televison as a production assistant. She went on to become a line producer, working on television shows and feature films such as Shooting Fish, Touch and Go, The Gentleman Thief, Waking the Dead and the feature-length Miss Marple dramas. She was also the producer of the comedy series Max and Paddy's Road to Nowhere.

HUMPHREY JAEGER - Production Designer

Humphrey Jaeger has created sets for many acclaimed projects. Recent credits include Cleanskin, a tense terrorist thriller starring Sean Bean and Charlotte Rampling as well as Christopher Guest's TV comedy Family Tree starring Chris O'Dowd. In Romania he created an entire village for An American Haunting, a supernatural thriller set in early 1800's America, starring Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek.

CHRISTINE RAWLINS - Costume Designer

Christine learned her trade in the BBC Costume Department, where she worked on a broad range of programmes from Doctor Who to Alan Bennett's early television plays. She supervised and co-ordinated costumes for War and Peace and then won a BAFTA award for the highly successful drama serial, Fortunes of War, starring Kenneth Branagh, after which she went freelance and has continued to work in television dramas and films.

TIM HUMPHRIES - Sound Recordist

Tim Humphries has worked on the television series Bread, Keeping up Appearances, Our Friends in the North, Dead Ringers, That Mitchell and Webb Look, and all 15 episodes of Missing as well as recording the first season of plays at The Globe Theatre.

CHRIS TOFT - Film Editor

Chris Toft gained a BA Honours Degree in Graphic Design/Visual Communication at Bath Acadamy of Art and trained as an editor at the BBC. In his time there, he worked on numerous dramas, documentaries and magazine programmes before going freelance. Metamorphosis is his first feature film, for which he also created the story boards and designed the dream sequences.