So, why Berkoff’s adaptation of Metamorphosis? Eloise is alert and ready to go: “Berkoff as a person is quite intriguing, he’s a director and he was an actor as well, and so he approaches the text in a way that is quite holistic; he’s always thinking of the body.

“Metamorphosis is about instincts and, like, when you strip everything away we become just like animals.” Adam laughs at Eloise’s Wikipedia-like opening response, and we move on to discussing which scenes are the most powerful. Joe is snuggled up on the sofa in a woollen sweater, and he looks up and smiles brightly, speaking about the scene where Gregor attempts to interact with his sister: “He’s shouting at his sister, and he starts to crumble away, and I think that that’s when I understood what his character is about; he’s very much trapped, unable to communicate, but still, like, holding all the complexity of a human character.”

What’s the focus of the work, is it all about the worker in society? Eloise’s responses are strikingly considered; she frequently pauses for reflection as she carefully constructs her answers. “I think it’s more about the family, and how difficult it is to be a unit…I think it’s the difficulty of loving each other, and staying together through hardship, which is something you have to work at like a job.” She continues: “Greta is the one who says that we have to get rid of Gregor, and she’s been there from the beginning; her final speech is just repulsion towards her own brother, which is the most moving thing…I really think that she does try to retain the essence of her brother’s humanity, and then when she lets go, I think we all see a part of ourselves in Greta, and don’t completely resent her.

“I want people to be kind of exhausted, and, like, quite harrowed, I think. What I think you take away as an audience member is feelings and thoughts about how your own body reacts and interacts with the modern world. Especially because Gregor’s transformation is kind of to do with his job at the call centre…he can’t leave his work behind because he embodies his work, basically.

“So, when people leave, and turn their phones off airplane mode, I want them to be like: ‘Oh my God…I’m a beetle!’” Eloise’s confidence, and her willingness to make slightly absurd statements, is infectiously funny. “...I want them to be not knowing where to look, like, deeply unsettled [looks over at Joe], I feel like that sometimes when you’re doing things.” Joe laughs and goes red.

When asked about the staging and costumes, Eloise and Joe frequently look across at each other; they clearly have a lot of surprises that they’re anxious not to reveal. Eloise responds to a question about costume. “I’ll throw some buzzwords out there: so, like…mirrors, Velcro, fluids… [we laugh, and she looks up self-consciously], rubber…Yeah, I think I’ll stick with that. Do with that what you will.”

Feeling somewhat concerned, I move on to ask them about the staging of the production, another aspect which is veiled with a degree of secrecy. Joe explains: “There’s a trapped area that’s just for beetles, and the family have to kind of interact with it from the outside; there’s a constant barrier there, unless it’s transgressed by the beetles.”

What’s obvious is the amount of thought that has gone into space, and what that represents in the play, as well as other visual and acoustic concerns. Adam avoids a lot of the questions, passing them on to Eloise and Joe, and insisting: “I’m a lowly producer, so I suppose I best not.” His eventual responses, however, reveal an obviously high level of insight. “It’s going to be an edgy play for this term, that’s why I got involved; we’re curious about how much scope there is with this play to do things with it. It demands something to be done with it, and it’s been done well.” He has a number of insights on the work’s relationship with the modern world: “…with zero-hours contracts and the rest of it, there’s no hour now that people couldn’t claim on you. Especially with phones…Gregor would be like that all the time because people would be emailing him.”

We go on to explore the ways that these economic concerns are also strongly linked with familial preoccupations; Joe explains: “The way that you’re locked into work is also like how you’re locked into relationships with the family.” Adam follows this with the rhetorical question: “To what extent, if you’re someone’s son, is that an economic relation?” I leave New Cellars excited to see these ideas in action.

Metamorphosis is on at the Corpus Playroom at 7pm from Tuesday 16th February - Saturday 20th February 2016.