THE SERIES OF UNRESPECTED DEATH Ⅲ.Ⅴ

Lan’s Diary Update, 2011

2011 Official invitation performance of the Seoul Marginal Theater Festival

2011 Official invitation performance of the Seoul Marginal Theater Festival

Title: Lan’s Diary Update

Genre: Experimental Media performance

Year of Production: 2011

Performance Length: 90min.

Director : Park Kyong Ju

Playwright: Park Kyong Ju

Choreography:Yuko Kaseki

Media Director: Suk Sung Suk

Cameras: Koh Sang-seok, Kim Seul-ki

Notes & commentator,: Ahn Jae-seong (CEO, International Marriage Victim Center), Lee Dong-wook (Director of International Marriage Victim Center), Jeon Sang-soo (International Marriage Victim), Yeo Sang-hyeon (International Marriage Victim), Cha Seung-hyeon (International Marriage Victim), Lee Chae-moon (International Marriage Victim) male) and others

Starring: Lorna De Mateo, Kelp Prop, Vijay Gureung, Arina, Sarangerel, Charinakadagat Park

Music: Wolfgang Inder Wisch

Video Director: Seok Seong-seok

Lighting Director: Lee Jae-seong

Makeup: Terra Hoyu

Manager: Ko Sang-seok

Stage Art: Park Kyong Ju

Costumes/ Props: Park Kyong Ju

Acoustic Operator: Sen Jo

Public Relations: Hyungjoo Park

Place: Official invitation performance of the Seoul Marginal Theater Festival,  Underground art channel live performance & Small theater in Hyehwa-dong 1, sidewalk performance in front of the Philippine Catholic Church in Daehak-ro

Context: The performance of Lan’s diary, which represents the position of a victim of immigrant women, and the performance of the commentator, who has a different position on this, were separated into two spaces and performed simultaneously. The audience has to choose one of the two venues, but the director intentionally edited both performances in real time and broadcast them simultaneously online.

‘Lan’s Diary Update (Playwright/Director: Park Kyung-ju)’ is an updated version of ‘Lan’s Diary,’ a creative performance based on the diary of a Vietnamese immigrant woman who died while entering Korea through an international marriage for human trafficking. It is a work in which the stories of Korean victims of international marriage are added as annotations. Performances are held in parallel at two venues, and scenes from both performances are broadcast live through smartphones and the web. While the Salad members perform Lan’s Diary on the streets of Daehak-ro, a talk show about men who have suffered from international marriages is held at the 1st Theater in Hyehwa-dong. While they are conducting a talk show, scenes from Lan’s diary are shown in real time on the large screen at the concert hall. Even on the streets of Daehangno, scenes from talk shows of the victims are shown live. General etiquette in the performance hall is prohibited for the audience who visited the performance hall. Viewers can watch the performance with their smartphones turned on and send questions to the moderator in real-time, and the moderator also relays the questions received through the smartphone to the male victims of international marriage. In the talk show at the concert hall, a short one-act play, “International Marriage is Crazy,” in which the male victim himself appears, is also staged.

Director’s Debate

Some Korean men watched the public broadcaster’s ‘Love in Asia’ program, fantasized about international marriage, and got married through an international marriage broker for human trafficking, and suffered great scars in their lives. The story of a migrant woman victim of international marriage, which has been known through the media, and the voice of a Korean victim who has not received attention from the media or the state, experiment to harmonize in the performance of ‘Lan’s Diary Update’. A Korean man was scammed by a foreign migrant woman and a migrant woman was victimized by a Korean man. It is unknown how their different voices will harmonize in this performance. However, I would like to point out that if the parties who choose marriage through this experiment do not see themselves as the subject of life, but only as eternal victims, these problems will not cease in Korean society regardless of policy revision or finances. ‘Why did you make such a choice despite knowing various uncertainties?’, ‘Why did you take the risk and try to cross the border?’, ‘Is there any problem with your choice?’, ‘Why does Korean society force marriage?’, ‘What do you dream of getting married’. – Park Kyong Ju

The Series of Unrespected Death’ (plan/writing/directing: Park Kyong Ju)’ refocusing on migration and death has dealt with stories of Korean miners dispatched to Germany, foreign migrant workers in the Yeosu Detention Center, one migrant woman who died after international marriage like human trafficking, and ‘refugees’ and ‘people on the margins’. The series that migrant people themselves, not professional actors, have told their stories on the stage will close its theatrical experiment with refocusing on the issue of multiculturalism.

Artist of ‘Lan’s Diary Update’ Park Kyong Ju Playwright and director digs into the issue of migrants

Men who have suffered from international marriages go on the theater stage

Lan’s diary Update