MARK JACKSON

“Humor and horror mix freely in the Aurora Theatre's fascinating production of Metamorphosis. The Mark Jackson-directed show provides plenty of thrills as well as laughter… Metamorphosis is a beautifully realized production.”

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

“Director Mark Jackson is something of a name brand in the Bay Area. You know his shows are going to be original, compelling and rigorously produced. He’s a writer/director (occasionally actor) whose work you simply do not miss. The world of Kafka would seem to be a playground for Jackson’s mighty theatrical imagination, and it’s true. Jackson’s Metamorphosis is as unsettling as it is poignant, as beautifully performed as it is fun to watch… Jackson’s cast is so sharp, so precise and so electrifying… This is ultimately quite a sad tale, but Jackson and his crew deliver it with such energy and such discipline that it’s also suffused with the joy of performing something so bold and juicy.”

THEATERDOGS.NET

“Wildly innovative director Mark Jackson, best known for The Death of Meyerhold and Faust Pt1, transports the bizarre tale of Gregor Samsa, the traveling salesman who wakes at home one fine morning to find himself transformed into a gigantic insect, into the age of beehives and sock hops… Steeped in the oppressively chipper '50s motif, this Metamorphosis mingles absurdity and horror with extremely eerie results… Jackson has an exquisite eye for tableaus and here he mesmerizes with constant jarring juxtapositions… Beguiles the eye with one unsettling stage picture after another.”

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

“Mark Jackson directs the play in the true spirit of [Kafka] — which is to say, no deeper meaning is spelled out for the audience. Instead, the play’s meaning is left open to interpretation… The acting in Metamorphosis is top-notch. The director succeeds in presenting a powerful drama that is magically simple, yet profound… Metamorphosis is exceptional. The direction is brilliant…” 

THE BENICIA HERALD

“Jackson uses a highly physicalized approach… a tightly choreographed homage to everything from vaudeville and cartoons to Lucille Ball. The contrast works beautifully… Yes, it’s ominous. It’s very funny, horrific, poignant and provocative as well – often at the same time. It’s Kafka.”

SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

The Aurora Theater Company is now presenting an apt stage adaptation of Metamorphosis done by David Farr and Gísli Örn Gardarsson and skillfully directed by Mark Jackson. It’s worth seeking out… The whole ensemble performs with technical finesse, in a stylized manner as to resemble terrifying human marionettes, askew and broken.”

BERKELEYSIDE.COM

“The direction by award-winning Bay Area director, performer and playwright Mark Jackson maintains and heightens the nightmarish sense of alienation and helplessness of Kafka’s original 1915 novella… In this Absurdist melodrama, Jackson has skillfully let the audience feel Gregor’s disaffection while not belaboring sympathy… This production of an Existential classic gives new artistic insights to the dark night of the soul…”

SF BAY TIMES

“In less capable hands, a stage version of Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis could easily have been a disaster… But no premise is too fraught for local theater director Mark Jackson, who dazzled audiences with his 2009 adaptation of Goethe's Faust Pt1, and went on to do a contemporized version of Mary Stuart, focused as much on national security as on the infamous Queen of Scotts… Never one to underestimate the intelligence of his audience, Jackson refuses to bludgeon us with political or social subtexts. Nor does he allow the grave sadness of Kafka to completely saturate the play. Rather, there's a winking humor to each dialogue, and a kind of elasticity to the characters' movements that makes the whole thing seem light and buoyant — almost like a ballet. It's perhaps the best way to aestheticize [the 1950s,] one of the fluffiest periods in American history, when the veneer of social mobility helped mask an environment of anxiety and paranoia.”

EAST BAY EXPRESS

“Mark Jackson takes the universal theme of alienation to a new level with his latest production, Metamorphosis. Adapted for the stage from Franz Kafka’s notable short story, Aurora Theatre Company’s representation of one man’s troubled transformation is both delightful yet twisted. The jokes are aplenty and the cruelties run amok, delivering a performance that sheds new light on a timeless fable… Part-charming and part-horrifying but ultimately thought-provoking.”

THE DAILY CALIFORNIAN