Play 'Acacia wa...', Performed Only When New COVID-19 Cases Are 9 or Fewer

Performance at Namsan Arts Center from June 24 to July 5

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture’s Namsan Arts Center will hold performances of its first season program, "Acacia and What Swallows Acacia," only on days when the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases records a single digit.

Despite strengthened quarantine measures due to the spread of COVID-19 in the metropolitan area, Namsan Arts Center announced that it decided, after discussions with the theater company, not to fully cancel the performance of "Acacia and What Swallows Acacia" (written and directed by Kim Ji-na, Ian-si Studio), but to comply with public theater quarantine guidelines and respond flexibly depending on the situation.

"Acacia and What Swallows Acacia" is scheduled to be performed at Namsan Arts Center from June 24 to July 5. However, during the performance period, if the number of confirmed cases announced by the Central Disease Control Headquarters in the morning is a single digit, the performance will proceed as scheduled that day. When the performance takes place, tickets for the day’s show can be reserved from 11 a.m. on the Namsan Arts Center website. If the number of new confirmed cases does not drop to single digits by the last scheduled performance day, July 5, and the performance cannot be held, a non-face-to-face performance will be conducted via online streaming service. Namsan Arts Center also stated that even if it cannot meet the audience during the performance period, the theater will not stop, and the play will continue through online content titled "Stand by, On Stage," which shows ongoing communication with the audience.

"Acacia and What Swallows Acacia" is a work that encapsulates over 40 years of modern Korean history from 1980 to 2020 through its characters. It focuses on how victims and those around them of social tragedies such as the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980, the collapse of Seongsu Bridge in 1994, and the collapse of Sampoong Department Store in 1985, as well as ongoing social incidents like terrorism and cults, confront these events and live in the present. Although the work deals with various historical events, it does not place characters within each event but proceeds by sharing their memories through the characters’ "words" and "breaths." Fragmented memories of individually existing characters are repeatedly reassembled and deconstructed, eventually gathering in a "square" to become today’s story.

Director Kim Ji-na said, "I intend to create a play that does not classify people as perpetrators or victims or martyrs but embraces these stories as my own, confronting our own selves," adding, "I will focus on how to connect the work with the audience." The stage set is arranged to surround Namsan Arts Center’s round stage. This device is meant to make the characters and audience feel as if they coexist in a square, conveying that historical events are not just past experiences of special people but events experienced by everyone in the contemporary era.

Director Kim Ji-na has directed original works with unique linguistic expressions and forms, such as "Following the Rails to the Sea of Red Canna (2020, 2017)," "Director’s Pan-Ingrid, Flood (2018)," "To Drift Away into the Landscape I Miss You (2018)," and "Our Relationship Is Uncomfortable Like Spring (2017)," focusing on themes like "migration and refugees," "anxiety and fear," "reality and virtuality," and "fundamental human faith and philosophy."

In this production, live drawing artist Kim Jeong-gi, who fills the canvas spontaneously without preliminary sketches, collaborates. Kim Jeong-gi has worked on various projects in partnership with domestic and international companies, including the Blue House Sarangchae special exhibition and the 100th anniversary drawing show of the March 1st Movement, and this is his first work in theater. The performance takes place on a circular white stage reminiscent of a vast square with a giant drawing paper, where memories of various characters gather and leave traces through words and drawings.