National Theater Company Korea's Somewhat Strange Child 'Yeongji' Restaged After One Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] The National Theater of Korea's Children and Youth Theater Research Institute will perform the youth play "Yeongji" from May 22 to June 14 at the Baek Seong-hee Jang Min-ho Theater in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

"Yeongji" was developed through the National Theater of Korea's Artist Youth Creation Belt in 2018 and premiered last May at the National Theater's small theater, Pan. At the time of the reading showcase, the play was titled "Byeongmok-an," but during the script development process, the focus shifted to the character, leading to the title change to "Yeongji." "Yeongji" was the first youth play by the National Theater of Korea to depict the story of early teenagers, creating a fresh response.

Yeongji, who lives in the flawless neighborhood of Byeongmok-an, is a "somehow strange child" who makes the village elders nervous just by appearing. Yeongji changes her surroundings with her ingenious imagination and quirky behavior. The youth play "Yeongji" shows the confusing growing pains of early teenagers who struggle between the image adults want and the image they desire for themselves through the protagonist Yeongji.

"Yeongji" will be performed both online and offline. Due to difficulties in visiting theaters caused by the spread of COVID-19, the National Theater of Korea plans to live stream "Yeongji" five times online. The live streaming schedule is May 24 at 3:00 PM, and May 29, June 1, 4, and 5 at 1:30 PM. The performances will be broadcast live on the National Theater of Korea's official YouTube channel.

Except for Sunday, May 24, all live streams are scheduled at 1:30 PM to allow schools to use the performance as part of their curriculum. The National Theater will also provide art education materials containing performance information to schools that apply in advance.

After the performances on June 4 and 5, there will be a talk with the artists for both online and offline audiences.

In accordance with the "social distancing policy to prevent the spread of COVID-19," only 75 seats, which is 41% of the total 182 seats in the theater, will be available. Audience members can enter the theater only after complying with quarantine measures such as temperature checks, wearing masks, filling out health questionnaires, and using hand sanitizer.

The 2020 version of "Yeongji" moves the stage to her own hideout. Unlike last year's premiere, where meetings between Yeongji and her two friends took place in various locations such as school and home, this year’s performance offers a glimpse into Yeongji’s story, armed with even more ingenious imagination in "Yeongji’s Hideout."

The direction is by Kim Mi-ran, who received acclaim in 2017 for "I Like You." Director Kim Mi-ran stated, "We plan to present a different personality of Yeongji, moving away from the bright Yeongji with suspenders and braided hair from the premiere, and want to create a performance that makes the audience think, 'I want to play like that too.'"

The art team, which was praised for vividly expressing Yeongji’s strange fantasy world during the premiere, has reunited. This year’s performance also features music director Jang Young-gyu, a member of the group "Inalchi" who actively composes across theater and film, and choreographer Lee Yoon-jung, whose work was selected as the Best Work by Korean Dance Critics in 2019, promising more three-dimensional rhythms and movements.

Park Se-in was cast as the protagonist "Yeongji," selected from an audition competition with a ratio of 577 to 1. She graduated from the Acting Department of the Korea National University of Arts and won Best Actress at the 2017 Florence Corti Film Festival, actively working on both screen and stage. Kyung Ji-eun and Kim Byeol, who appeared in the National Theater of Korea’s youth plays "Mackerel" and "I Like You," will play So-hee and Hyo-jung, respectively. All three actors were born in 1991 and are expected to show fantastic chemistry.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.