Dinner or Trial? The Play 'Trap' Serves Uncomfortable Questions
Creatrip Team
4 months ago
Seoul Municipal Theatre Company’s revival of the black comedy Trap (based on Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s short story "Accident") stages a strange fusion of banquet and courtroom. Alfredo Traps, a self-made textile salesman, becomes stranded in a rural manor and is invited by a retired judge to join a nightly mock trial with former judges, prosecutors, a lawyer and even an ex-executioner. As food and wine are served in escalating courses, the game turns into a corrosive interrogation that forces Traps to confront hidden moral failings. The 90-minute production uses a three-sided audience, live food service, and six veteran male actors in a fierce ‘acting battle’ to heighten immersion. What begins as farce grows into probing questions about success built on others’ losses, whether immorality can be judged by law, and if a life without sin is possible—leaving audiences unsettled long after the curtain falls. (S seats: side seating; S Theatre: Sejong Center’s small theatre)
