For Two Nights, National Museum Becomes a Grand Theater
Creatrip Team
3 months ago
The National Museum of Korea in Yongsan transformed into a massive theater on Dec. 17 and 20 for a nonverbal total theater performance titled “The Time We Could Not Know Each Other — Life’s Ball.” Audiences filled the museum’s halls and balconies as the production, directed by experimental theater auteur Kim Ah-ra, staged a series of vivid tableaux inspired by Peter Handke’s original work (Austrian novelist and Nobel laureate), reinterpreted in a Korean context. About 25 performers, including veteran actress Park Jung-ja, enacted dozens of rapid costume changes to portray a cross-section of society — homeless people, cleaners, the rich and poor, young and old — parading through scenes that evoked war, protests, the COVID-19 pandemic, illness and death. The museum, marking its 20th anniversary in Yongsan and surpassing 6 million visitors this year, presented the two special performances to invite reflection on shared humanity and imagine a more peaceful world, the director said.
