How Does Hate Take Shape?... "In the House Where I Lived," a Variation on "Othello"

March 7-15 at Daehakro Arts Theater Small Hall in Seoul

The theater company Jeok will stage the play "In the House Where I Lived," which borrows from Shakespeare's Othello to address issues of discrimination and hate, at the Daehakro Arts Theater Small Hall in Seoul from March 7 to March 15, 2026.

Set in the late 1970s and the present, the story revolves around four women who were pushed out and could not find their place in society during those times. The narrative centers on "Mother," who had to endure the patriarchy of the industrialization era in the 1970s, and "Mama," a Chinese-Korean woman living on the margins. They try to become each other's escape, but ultimately fail, and the traces of their failures are passed down to their daughters, represented by "Me." Through an encounter with "Quyen," a Vietnamese migrant woman, "Me" contemplates the meaning of home, nationality, family, and survival.

Rather than a reenactment of Othello, "In the House Where I Lived" seeks to reinterpret the mechanics and meaning of the narrative through the stories of Desdemona and Emilia. The actors shift between being narrators and characters, and the same event unfolds as a different story depending on who is telling it. The play reveals that hate is not an individual's problem but a structural one, amplified through words and rumors.

Understanding who Iago is in Othello makes the play even clearer. "Incheol," a character in the play, incites hate and spreads suspicion with words, creating catastrophe just like Iago.

Director Lee Gon stated, "The core keyword of this play is 'escape.' For Mother, escape is an instinct for survival. For Mama, escape is the process of someone who belongs nowhere asking, 'Who am I?' For Me, escape becomes a journey to reclaim the place in life that the previous generation could never reach."

The theater company Jeok has consistently introduced unperformed classics in Korea or remade male-centered classical plays by actively incorporating women's perspectives. In 2024, it won the Grand Prize at the 3rd Seoul Arts Awards with Christopher Marlowe's "The Jew of Malta." The cast includes Kwak Jisook, who won the 2025 Baeksang Arts Award for Best Play with "The Jew of Malta," as well as Jeong Daham, Sim Yeonhwa, Jeon Hyeongsuk, Kim Youngjun, Lee Sanghong, An Byeongsik, and Lee Seunghyuk.

Tickets are available for reservation at Arko·Daehakro Arts Theater, Nol Ticket, and Yes24 Ticket.

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