Are all rules just? Whom do society's standards serve? Plays questioning the legitimacy of social order are taking the stage one after another. Doosan Humanities Theater, which has set "New Taxonomy" as this year's theme, presents two foreign-original plays that pose direct questions about existing systems and boundaries.
"The Principle," adapted by Kang Hoon-gu from a play by Hong Kong playwright Kwok Wing-kong and directed by Lee Jun-woo, runs through the 14th of this month at Doosan Art Center Space111. The story begins when newly appointed principal Lee Yeon-jo pushes through the introduction of new school rules. The principal, who seeks to establish a new order at the school by emphasizing procedure and principle, clashes endlessly with vice principal Kang Jeong-gu, who wants to preserve a free academic atmosphere. As the head teacher of student affairs, the student council president, and the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper join in, the conflict spreads throughout the entire school.
The decisive incident is a student's traffic accident during a marathon club activity. When the student is injured during off-campus training, the principal holds the vice principal, who was the supervising teacher, responsible, and the student council president fiercely objects and stages a boycott of classes. The conflict reaches its peak over the vice principal's fate, asking the audience which choice is just. It prompts reflection on what rules and order are needed to build a good school, good education, and further, a good society.
In Hong Kong, where the original was written, the political implications run deeper. The school as a space was read as a microcosm of Hong Kong society at the time. The various reforms pushed by the newly appointed principal evoked the Hong Kong chief executive appointed by mainland China, and the students' resistance recalled social conflicts surrounding democracy and autonomy. It received critical acclaim at its 2017 Hong Kong premiere and was later performed in mainland China as well.
The Korean production is more closely tied to domestic educational realities than to political context. None of the characters—the principal, the vice principal, or the students—are portrayed as one-sided villains or as standing on the side of justice. The scene in which the principal and vice principal, who clashed until the end, hint at the possibility of trying to understand each other in the final scene compactly demonstrates the message of coexistence that the work seeks to convey. Actors Park Hyun-sook, Oh Yong, Park Jong-tae, Kim Hyun-jin, and Kim Hye-ryeong appear in the production.
"I Am My Own Wife," which runs at the same theater from the 24th of this month through July 12, delves more fundamentally into the problem of social classification and definition. It is a representative work by American playwright Doug Wright that won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play.
The work is based on the life of the real-life figure Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. Charlotte is a transgender woman who survived through Nazi Germany and the East German socialist system. She collected antiques, gramophones, and furniture to create a museum, and was also a figure who protected a cultural space for the sexual minority community. The work depicts Doug Wright's process of interviewing Charlotte and tracing her life.
The stage proceeds in the form of a monodrama in which a single actor takes on 35 roles. Amid rapidly intersecting perspectives and testimonies, the audience comes to feel the fact that a human being cannot be explained by a single truth or a single identity. The work does not confine Charlotte merely within the category of being a sexual minority. It views her as a being who had to wear countless faces in order to survive within the times, politics, and historical environment.
At its 2013 domestic premiere, it drew attention by being selected as one of the Korean Theater Critics Association's "Best 3 Plays of the Year." For this production, Kim Ki-ran handles the translation and dramaturgy, and Kang Ryang-won, who directed the premiere, takes up the baton again. Ji Hyun-jun, who participated in the premiere and the 2014 revival, returns to the role of Charlotte after 12 years, while Baek Seok-kwang joins as a new Charlotte.
