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Home : Program : Theatre |
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Thérèse Raquin - Korea
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| Time : |
Nov 4(Wed) ~ Nov 8(Sun)
Wed~Fri : 20:00
Sat : 15:00, 19:00
Sun : 16:00
*** English subtitles will be provied on Nov 4(Wed), Nov 6(Fri), Nov 8(Sun). |
| Venue : |
Arko Arts Theater Small Hall |
| Ticket Price : |
30,000 won |
| Duration : |
100 min (no Interval) |
| Company : |
Dong Theatre Company |
| Original Work : |
Émile Zola |
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A miniature of the inner madness and horror of humans depicted through body language and poetic space.
The spiritual that is glimpsed in the midst of revolting, and silence in the midst of primitive battle. |
The very novel that was considered abominable and fit only for kindling wood
Emile Zola wrote Thérèse Raquin and ever since, it has been staged as a drama, film and musical all over the world. Dong Theater Company premiered it in Korea in 2008. In 2009, it was turned into a film entitled 'The Bat' amid raving critical acclaim. Dong Theater Company expanded the theme of Thérèse Raquin into a piece about universal human existence by overcoming the barriers of both time and space of 19th century France while still maintaining the experimental spirit of the writer. The original script by Zola was replaced with a re-written script in which the number of protagonists was reduced to four - a man, woman, mother and husband. In addition, the performance has become more accessible with more emphasis on physical movements rather than lines.
Synopsis
Thérèse Raquin's husband has been dishonorably discharged from the army due to his inability to adapt to army life and the humiliation has hopelessly turned him into an eternal boy. One day, a comrade from his fighting years pays a visit to the couple. Thérèse discovers that they have many things in common and eventually falls in love with the man. Admiring his friend's life on the road, the husband suggests that they all go on a tour in a carriage. At one point, they get on a boat that they have come across accidentally. In the middle of the river, overcome by the silence of nature and the singing of birds, the husband shrieks at the top of his voice with immense sadness and despair. Thérèse and the comrade are led my mysterious forces to kill her husband. They subsequently get married but are ceaselessly haunted by the last cries of her first husband. By the time they realize how deeply they have been sucked into a swamp, it is too late. They curse each other and kill each other with a vengeance.
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Every aspect of this piece is dramatic and aesthetic in nature from the formative no-nonsense movements of the actors and excessive obsession with the representation of actual sexual acts to the boat-riding scene in which the actors use their bodies to depict the motion. There are four characters - the physically disabled husband who has been discharged by the army, the obsessive mother-in-law, the woman who is forced to share the pain of her husband and the husband's comrade in arms. Thrown into a cold steel structure surrounded by acrylic walls, they bite each other, roll themselves on the floor like animals and fight against the destiny that drives them to their ends. Thérèse Raquin illustrates the essence of body language created by actors on a minimal stage, with controlled language, an economic use of scenery, and a black-and-white blackout method reminiscent of silent films and typical of the director Kang Yang-Won. At times, his scenes take the form of poetry of space. For example, three chairs are placed on stage to portray the motion of the carriage and the lake scene is described through a transparent acrylic plate onto which lights are turned on each side. Thérèse watches her husband with commiseration for the first time when he burst into tears over the freedom of the flying bird and the vastness of nature. The motion of her hands on the boat and on the surface of the lake appears to encourage and at the same time, stop him from dying. She is portraying the double side of the coin created by the present situation and her inner desire. Life is thus portrayed as a long journey in a drunken state on a boat heading toward the gate of hell.
Thérèse Raquin depicts every bit of the madness and horror of the human soul in its minutest detail as if looking into through a microscope.
This production was selected for Arko Challenge 2008 and premiered at the Arko Arts Theater. It was also chosen by the Seoul Art Market 2008 and invited to SPAF2008. It was awarded the PAF Director Award in 2008 by Performance and Review, the performance arts magazine. In addition, it was selected for financial support given to arts and creative activities by the Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture in 2009.
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| Director |
Kang Yang Won studied at Dongkuk University (graduate course) and the Department of Directorship at the Shikin School of Drama in Russia. He was invited to the Graduate Drama Festival in Moscow with his graduate course piece of The Coat in 1997. It was awarded the Best Director Award at the Simferopol International Young Festival. In 1999, he set up Dong Theater Company. He has been investigating the potential of applying Stanislavski's method on acting to contemporary drama and creating pieces that draw out the inner turmoil and essence of the text beyond a mere realistic portrayal through the bodies of actors.
Along with his interest in directing plays, he has been interested in developing acting methods that satisfy Korean cultural and physical conditions and sensibilities since 2007. He has set up a research center and workshop session dedicated to acting and the application of acting methods. Thanks to such efforts, he has produced and directed five projects with different styles in 2008.
His major works include The Coat, The Maids, Crime and Punishment, The Last Tape of Krapp,
Lambs dressed as Humans, Metamorphosis, Sea Urchin, When I lie Dead, Oberosterreich, Thérèse Raquin and The Ghost. |
| Company |
Drama students who had studied in Russia founded Dong Theater Company. The company is not organized around a division of labor, but rather every staff member and actor creates his own piece like an arts and craft group. The company has been praised for creating a new experience in drama with their unique use of the body. It has recreated Western classics since its inception beginning with Phaedre and followed that success with original plays such as The Maids, and Oberosterreich and adapted pieces such as Metamorphosis, When I lie dead, The Coat and Thérèse Raquin. The company has been looking at ways to merge different social and cultural experiences and Eastern body language. In particular, Thérèse Raquin reflects the process of drama making by Dong Theater Company. Emphasis is placed not on simply translating the time and space of the original work into Eastern bodily movements and sounds for representation of situations and stories but on communicating the universal emotions and thoughts of the characters. Thérèse Raquin is poetic like a piece of psychological dance. For that reason, it has been considered closer to a symbolic drama rather than simple representation in drama.
Dong Theater Company received the New Concept in Drama Award for Theater Company at the Donga Drama Awards in 2008. |
Reviews
The piece is extremely aesthetic and dramatic thanks to the sculptural and no-nonsense movements of the actors, excessive depiction of sexual acts as if to prove its dedication to the principles of realist drama, and the boat scene relying only on the movements of the actors.
- Hankyorae
Movements and breaths that concentrate the choices and reactions of characters without the use of language is meticulously designed and calculated much like writing a piece of music. The unnatural and contorted movements and the change in the hues of sexual desire of Thérèse slowly opening her eyes to sex are clearly sophisticated.
- National Theater Mir
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