The Series of Unrespected Death Ⅱ

Yeosu, Beginning, Middle and the End, 2010

2010 Official invitation performance of the Seoul Marginal Theater Festival

2010 Official invitation performance of the Seoul Marginal Theater Festival

– Title: Yeosu, Beginning, Middle and the End

– Production: Salad Theater (www.salad.or.kr)

– Premiere: 4th Sep. 2010 (The 12th Seoul Marginal Theatre Festival )

– Place: Daehakro Arts Theater_Small Hall

– Duration: 90 minutes

– Concept & Playwright & Director: Park Kyong Ju

– Music: Wolfgang in der Wiesche

– Media Director: Sungsuk Suk

– Assistant Director: Jihye Yu

– Documentary Video: Park Kyong Ju, Kyaw Naiong, Minsung Chun

– Stage Design & Property : Hakggwun Lee, Hyungjung Cho

– Makeup: Tara Hoyu

– Media Assistant: Sangsuk Go

– Translation: Minsung Chun, Hayan Chun

– Cast: Jingui Hua (China), Purev Dashmaa (Mongol), Vijay Gurung (Nepal), Lorna de Mateo (the Philippines), Bimala Shresta (Nepal) and other special guests 3 (2 Survivors of Fire in Yeosu Foreigners’ Detention Center, Ahn Hyun-Sook- Lead counsellor for aftereffects of the Yeosu fire survivors, Minsung Chun- Reporter of Multi-Cultural Salad TV)

Introduction

Yeosu, Beginning, Middle and the End, Creative Artists’ Group, Salad’s Unrespected Deaths Series Ⅱ, deals with the fire in Yeosu Foreigners’ Detention Center on February 11, 2007. The fire killed ten migrant workers and injured 17, and the play covers the episodes from right after the fire until when the bereaved families and the injured finished their compensation negotiation and left Korea.

The play, interlaced with different characters’ testimonies and assertions with the background of abstract space of memories, asks the audience what is the truth of the accident. While there are many people who were shocked at the accident and visited the funeral hall for the truth of the tragedy, the truth of the accident is still in a veil of mystery. The play does not tell the audience what is the truth of the Yeosu fire tragedy. It only makes them imagine what is the direction and images of the truth. Proceeded in experimental languages, the play is presented in multi-languages in order to make the participation of migrants conspicuous.

During its premiere, the play also invited those survivors of the Yeosu fire who dramatically survived the tragedy but lead difficult lives suffering from aftereffects of the fire to the stage. They spoke about their experiences and opinions during the performance and received favorable comments from the audience.

Also, the video documents which Salad TV had recorded for two months after the fire were first disclosed through the performance.

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.

• [장병욱의 경계의 즐거움] 극단 샐러드의 ‘여수, 처음 중간 끝’, 한국일보, 2010. 9. 7.
• Theater Salad’s ‘Yeosu_Beginning Middle and the End’