10 minute read
Play Review: Th e Man Who Paints Time
“The Man W ho Paints (시간을 칠하는 사람)
Reviewed by Viktoryia Shylkouskaya
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You probably know what 4D cinema is, where your seat moves in sync with the movie action, allowing you to “feel” the movie’s motion. But have you heard about 4D theater play, in other words, a “black-box” or “fl exible-seating” theater? Th e ACC’s “Th e Man Who Paints Time” is one of them!
Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing one of the performances of “Th e Man Who Paints Time” at the ACC, timed to the 40th anniversary of the May 18 Democratization Movement. At fi rst glance, the performance space looked more like an industrial warehouse than a theater. You enter a very big, dark room with an impossibly high ceiling. In the dark room, you only can see a fi ve-row seat module facing one of the walls of the room. Th e wall is decorated to resemble a threestory building, which makes it look like a construction site. Surprised at fi rst, I mistakenly thought I had been led on a sort of backstage tour. But no, I was at the right place. Th is form of theater space is called a “black-box” or “fl exible-seating” theater. Either of these names is actually quite descriptive. Th is type of theater is generally housed in a large, black, rectilinear room. In such a space, audience seating may be moved around, allowing the performance area to fl ow through and around the seats, while the use of risers helps facilitate better sightlines. Th e play starts. It gets incredibly busy in front of the building with construction workers, some locals, and passers-by. It is only three meters from where I am sitting to the actors. We hear the sound of a bulldozer, which is about to demolish the building. Suddenly, the seating platform holding the audience starts rolling towards the building, and I understand – we are the bulldozer that is moving to ram the building’s walls. Someone shouts: “Person in the building!” All the attention follows the light to the third fl oor. We see a man with a brush in his hands. It is Kim Young-sik, a man who cannot allow the demolition of the building because its walls hold the memories of past years. Every brick in its walls holds memories of his wife and son, who fell victim to a brutal military crackdown in Gwangju in 1980. Th ese walls remember his entire life; these walls remember everything. Th e man suddenly jumps out of the window and the lights go down. To be honest, it is only fi ve minutes into the play and I have already gotten goosebumps! It is the most unusual start to a play I have even seen.
Th e lights come on again and we are back in time. Th e play tells us the story of the building with white walls and people who work there. Th e building is the former Provincial Offi ce of Jeollanam-do, which later became the center of the May 18 Democratization Movement that unfolded in Gwangju in 1980. Kim Young-sik is one of the workers who is tasked with painting the facade walls of the building. One day, he meets the love of his life, Myung-sim, an offi ce worker from the same building. Th eir love story starts from sharing an apple. We see apples so many times throughout the performance because the play employs a large number of metaphors. “Apple” (사과, sagwa) in Korean is pronounced the same as the Korean word for “apology,” making them homonyms. Th roughout the play, the son of Young-sik and Myung-sim will eat apples while talking with his parents; later while busy with work, Myung-sim will give an apple to her son while he waits to play with her. It is
a metaphor the Korean people use to say “sorry.” People that have been killed or injured in the May 18 military crackdown as well will receive apples, and fi nally, almost at the end of the play, old ladies with apples will wait for Myung-sim aft er her death.
Th e white walls of the Provincial Offi ce can be interpreted as well as a symbol of authority and power, things that are put in order, and political subordination. On the other side, the colorful paint stands for young activists who are not scared to make a diff erence, a symbol of the much-needed spark for large-scale change in Korean society. Th e child with colorful crayons symbolizes the importance of today’s youth building our future. Painting with colors represents the voice of a young generation that is not scared to stand up for what it believes in, especially at a time when adults are butting heads over policies and politics. At the end of the play, the son of Young-sik and Myung-sim gets killed while painting on the white walls of the Provincial Government Offi ce. Two contrasting red lines on the white wall left aft er a tank rolls through is a symbol of the bloody political history of Gwangju and South Korean democracy.
Th e play is defi nitely an emotional rollercoaster for the audience. Th e mobile audience seating platform moves from place to place during the performance, blurring the boundaries of performance art. Scenic elements become less important in the black-box theater, although lighting, props, and sound retain a great deal of infl uence. Th e actors have put together an amazing show with smooth scene changes, a clear focus, and a cohesiveness that is both impressive and unmatched.
I encourage you to go see a performance of “Th e Man Who Paints Time” when it returns to the ACC. Hundreds of theaters across Korea are putting on diff erent plays, but I guarantee you will not fi nd one quite like the ACC Th eater’s rendition. If you want to get a unique chance to
go through what Gwangju people have gone through and experience what a 4D theater play is like, then come out and support these fi ne actors!
Photographs courtesy ofAsia Culture Center.
Location: ACC Th eater, 38 Munhwajeondang-ro, Donggu, Gwangju 61485
Information on previous plays
Date: October 16–20, 2019; May 27–31, 2020 Time: Weekdays 19:00; Saturday 15:00, 19:00; Sunday 15:00 Price: 30,000 KRW *Th e show is expected to run again in October 2020 or May 2021 **Tickets sell out really fast, so hurry up and buy them for the next season! For more information, visit https://www.acc.go.kr/
The Author
Viktoryia Shylkouskaya is a 25-year-old Belarusian currently residing in Gwangju. She moved to South Korea in 2016 without any knowledge of the country or language. What she thought would only be one year has since turned into many more. Instagram: @shylk.vick
Written and photographed by Melline Galani
Before Children’s Day, I was in desperate need of ideas for what I could do to entertain my kids on that day. After the prolonged virus-induced period indoors, I though the best option was something outside in the middle of nature if possible, but not too far from Gwangju. As I was talking with a colleague about this, she asked me what my children would like to do and my answer was horseback riding, thinking that was not a viable option in Gwangju.
Then my coworker suggested the Songsan Riding School (송산승마스쿨), and I thought I should give it a try. It was probably the best decision I’ve made recently. One aspect I should mention is that both my children had previous experiences with horses. My daughter has loved these animals since she was little. Although they didn’t take regular riding lessons, we’d go from time to time to an animal farm or an adventure park back home, where they rode animals from smaller horses like ponies to bigger ones like Lipizzans.
On Children’s Day the weather was fine, a bit windy but still warm. We arrived at the Songsan School at about 11 a.m. I was afraid that the place would be packed, but I guess we were lucky because even though there were a number of people, it was far from being crowded. We left the car in the parking lot near the ticket office and headed inside. We were surprised to find that the place was more than just a horseback riding school, more like an animal farm with some experience areas. From the time we arrived, it somehow reminded us of the animal farms we used to go to back home.
The school offers many activities and horseback riding lessons; they even have a sort of club where people can take out a membership. I think it’s best to make a prior reservation for the lessons (especially during summertime when it’s more packed), but we were lucky enough to find an available time. One lesson is about forty-five minutes, and I paid 70,000 won per child. It’s not cheap, but horseback riding is not an inexpensive sport. During the lesson, my children learned how to guide and command the horse, how to move at the same pace as the animals, and the most interesting aspect, how to gallop. The personnel are excellent, and they also have an English-speaking foreigner working there (she’s an experienced horseback rider and explains everything in detail).
But the Songsan School has more to offer. For those who don’t want to learn how to ride but just experience the feeling of horseback riding, there’s an experience consisting of riding ponies or horses (not big ones though) for three rounds. We paid 10,000 won per child for the three rounds. Depending on the child’s age and preferences, the caretaker chooses a pony or a horse.
Th ere’s also a small animal farm where young children can see pigs, cows, guinea pigs, sheep, and of course, horses. We even found some cute puppies to play with. Th ere’s no fee for visiting this area. Since the place is quite vast, there’s also a pond with a lot of fi sh in it (you may feed the fi sh with special food costing 1,000 won). Walking toward the alley near the pond, there’s a snack shop with ramyeon, coff ee, and snacks. Th ose who want to pay 5,000 won will get a basket full of hay and carrots to feed the animals at another experience zone. Th ey have rabbits, goats, sheep, and horses. I think the rabbits were stuff ed already because they didn’t eat, but the rest of the animals were more than keen to receive food and were comically friendly. We had so much fun. Th e feeling of animals eating from your hand is amazing. I’d almost forgotten what it felt like.
Th e riding school also has a substantial picnic area with wooden tables and benches, including a wooden swing, and a nice meadow in front of it. Balls and badminton rackets are free to use. We had ramyeon there along with some snacks and played for a while. At the end of the day, my children told me they’d had the best day since they moved to Korea. Th is should be suffi cient to get an impression of what Songsan is like.
Th is is the kind of place where you could spend an entire day outside experiencing diverse activities or just go for a picnic. Th ere’s no doubt that we’re going to spend quite a few more days here during this summer.
SONGSAN RIDING SCHOOL (송산 승마스쿨)
Address: Gwangju, Gwangsan-gu, 68-100 Gasaman-gil 광주 광산구 가삼안길 68-100 송산승마스쿨 Operating Hours: Daily 9:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m., closed on Mondays. Phone: 062-943-7100
The author
Melline Galani is a Romanian enthusiast, born and raised in the capital city of Bucharest, who is currently living in Gwangju. She likes new challenges, learning interesting things, and is incurably optimistic. Instagram: @melligalanis
