A memorial reading performance to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the late Lim Young-woong‘s passing, filled with longing

The poster for the ‘1st anniversary memorial reading performance of the late director Lim Young-woong’ will be held from May 8th to 11th at Small Theater Sanullim has been unveiled.

Director Lim Young-woong, who devoted his entire life to the stage, directed and produced numerous plays and musicals for over 60 years. He wrote the history of the Korean performing arts industry, receiving rave reviews both domestically and internationally.

The achievements and spirit of director Lim Young-woong are fully embodied in Theater Company Sanullim, which celebrates its 56th anniversary this year, and Small Theater Sanullim, which celebrates its 40th anniversary. This first-anniversary memorial reading performance, hosted by the Sanullim Theater Company and performed at the Sanullim Small Theater, will be a time to look back on and reminisce about his life and plays.

The ‘First Anniversary Memorial Reading Performance for the Late Director Lim Young-woong’ will present three works to the audience as reading performances: ‘The Dumb Waiter’ by Harold Pinter performed in 1969, ‘The English Lover’ by Marguerite Duras performed in 1980 and 1987, and ‘Mama Discovered the Sea at Fifty’ by Denise Chalem performed several times until 2010 after its premiere in 1991. On May 11th at 6 PM, the last episode, the talk concert ‘Time of Theater’ will be held, where acquaintances who have watched the human Lim Young-woong and the artist Lim Young-woong more closely than anyone else will be invited to share their memories with the audience.

‘Dumb Waiter’ is the performance that led director Lim Young-woong to choose ‘Waiting for Godot’, which would become his masterpiece. This work, which was the first challenge to the unknown territory of ‘Theatre of the Absurd’ in the Korean theater world dominated by realist plays, was greatly inspired by the plays of ‘Samuel Beckett’ in terms of content and form, such as dialogue, margin, difficulties in communication, and uncertain waiting. In the history of our theater, ‘Café Theatre’ has pioneered a new field called ‘salon theater’, presenting a performance starring ‘Kim Seong-ok’, ‘Ham Hyun-jin’, which is also connected to ‘Vladimir’ and ‘Estragon’, which were the premieres of ‘Waiting for Godot’. Directed by Park Sun-hee, and actors Kim Da-hee, Jeon Park-chan, and Park Dong-wook are participating, and the play will be performed twice, on May 9 at 4 PM and May 10 at 7 PM.

In addition, ‘The English Lover’ is a work that reflects the challenging spirit of director Lim Young-woong, who has broadened the horizons of domestic theater by discovering and introducing new overseas works. This is an experimental play by the problematic writer ‘Duras’. It was first performed under the title ‘Marie-Thérèse Mute’, as it was difficult to make use of the ambiguous French meaning of the original title, and the original title ‘The English Lover’ was used again for the rerun. It is one of the many problematic French works created through the collaboration of director Lim Young-woong and his wife, Professor Oh Jeung-ja, and stands out for its intense critical awareness and tense psychological tension. Directed by Lim Soo-hyun, and actors Jeong Won-jo, Lee Da-hae, Lim Seung-beom, and Kim Young-wook are participating, and the play will be performed twice: on May 8 at 8 PM and May 10 at 3 PM.

‘Mom Discovered the Sea at Fifty’ is a representative work of Sanullim’s ‘women‘s theater’, which has continued since ‘Woman in Crisis’ in 1986. It depicts the process in which women, previously defined only as ‘daughter’, ‘mother’, ‘wife’, discover their own identities. It has long received support from many audiences who sympathize with the universal emotions evoked by the relationship between mothers and daughters. It is the culmination of the long artistic relationship between director Lim Young-woong and actor Park Jung-ja, and it shows the artistic achievements made possible by mutual trust between director and actors. Directed by Song Jung-hee, and actors Kang Jung-yoon, Lee Joo-hee, and Kim Young-wook are participating, and it will be performed twice: on May 9 at 8 PM and on May 11 at 3 PM.

‘The 1st Anniversary Memorial Reading Performance for the Late Director Lim Young-woong’ will be performed at the Sanullim Small Theater from May 8 to 11. Tickets for the three reading performances will go on sale through Interpark on Thursday, April 10 at 3 PM. The talk concert ‘Time of Theater’ will be free of charge and applications will be accepted later via Sanulrim SNS.

Jeong Hee-yeon, Donga.com reporter shine2562@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.