'Reparative Acts for the Living' June Revival... Son Sang-gyu & Yoon Namu One-Person Play

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The play Repairing the Living will open its revival stage at the National Jeongdong Theater this June.

Repairing the Living depicts a 24-hour record surrounding the heart transplant process of a nineteen-year-old youth, 'Simon Langlois,' who was declared brain dead due to an unexpected accident. It is adapted into a one-person play from the bestselling novel of the same name by 'Maylis de Kerangal,' a representative author of contemporary French literature. The extensive original work, spanning over 300 pages, has been condensed into a 90-minute script. The original novel has won 11 literary awards worldwide, including the Man Booker International Prize nomination and the Orange Prize for New Writers. It has sold over 500,000 copies in France and has been published in Korea in translation, receiving much love from readers.

First premiered in 2019 and returning after two years, this production maintains the calm perspective and impartial balance toward any character found in the original novel, while dramatically portraying a passionate exploration and reverence for life and humanity. Through the process of organ donation from one individual, it questions the boundary between life and death and poetically and intricately expresses true mourning for death and the meaning of life.

During the 24-hour process in which the heart of a 19-year-old youth is transplanted into the body of a 50-year-old woman, a single actor on stage plays a total of 16 characters, including the doctor who pronounces death, the remaining family members, the organ transplant coordinator, the organ transplant recipient, and the narrator who connects them all. This expresses the derivatives of relationships formed within one incident and the connection of life. The story allows the audience to breathe and even laugh through elegant restraint and a calm style without intended sorrow, while conveying reverence for death and life.

Actors Son Sang-gyu and Yoon Namu reprise their roles from the premiere. Director Min Saerom and music director Park Seungwon will also be involved.

The play Repairing the Living will be performed at the National Jeongdong Theater from June 1 to June 27, and the first round of ticket sales will be held on Interpark and the National Jeongdong Theater website on May 29.