The Polish Book Institute

From 2 to 10 June, the Korean Theatre Festival in Seoul hosted the premiere screenings of the first South Korean staging of Tadeusz Słobodzianek's Nasza klasa (“Our Class”), Elżbieta Manthey of the ADiT Drama and Theatre Agency told the Polish Press Agency on Friday.

"The production, directed by Chun Yong Hwan, won the praise not only of the audience but also of the jury, which awarded the show as many as four prizes: for Best Performance, for Best Actress (Moo Young Park for the role of Zocha), for Best Acting Debut (Se Young Kim for the role of Dora), and for Tea Hoon Kim for Best Set Design," the release reads.

"The creators of the play were looking for connections between the history of Poland and South Korea. Reflecting on the sources of violence and the mechanisms of its escalation, they raised the question of how to stop the vicious circle that turns victims into executioners," they wrote. "The Polish author's text tracing the fate of a class divided and marked by violence allowed Korean authors to analyse the phenomenon from many perspectives at once, even the less obvious ones. As the reviews read, 'even worse than discovering that your neighbour is a monster is discovering the monster in yourself'," emphasised a news release from Seoul-based Arko Theater provided by ADiT.

As explained, "after the success in Seoul, Chun Yong Hwan and his team dream of showing a Korean interpretation of Tadeusz Słobodzianek's play in Poland". "The South Korean government is ready to fund the team's travel and transport," it was noted.

Source: Grzegorz Janikowski, Polish Press Agency (PAP)