WEBZINE ACC

Time to remember the May 18 Democratic Uprising through the stories of ordinary people who,
living in 1980 with the scene set in the Jeollanam-do Office,
with the axis of space and time, the Jeollanam-do Office in 1980

Inside the theater, <A Time Painter>

The ACC presented a play titled <A Time Painter>, which deals with the former Jeollanam-do Office, the final place of civilian resistance during the May 18 Democratic Uprising, and the stories of people who were there, from May 17 ─ 21 in Theater 1.

<A Time Painter> was created based on <The Architect of Time> by Song Jae-young, a work selected from the contest Tell the Story of Gwangju as part of the ACC story making contest in 2018. After three years of production, this play was performed for the 40th anniversary performance for the May 18th Democratic Uprising in 2020 and has been performed as ACC creative repertoire for three consecutive years since 2021.

<A Time Painter> is a biography of a painter named Kim Young-sik who was painting the wall of the Jeollanam-do Office in white. The play begins by implying that the main character Young-sik lost his life by jumping off the Jeollanam-do Office building where the building was being demolished in 2008. Time then goes back to 1960 when he meets his wife, Myeong-sim, who was an employee at the office, and he leads a peaceful and happy life with his family after his son Hyuk was born. However, Hyuk, who was grown in 1980, and his wife Myeong-sim become victims of the Gwangju Uprising. The play ends with Young-sik, who was left all alone, suffering from reminiscing happy memories with his son, who is buried under the Office, and the tragic memories of losing his family to the May of 1980.

The axis of all the places that pass through the whole play is the Jeollanam-do Office. Considering that it was the place of final resistance during the May 18 Uprising, the office is always described as a space of pain and tragedy. However, the work presents the story of the office as a place where precious daily memories are created one by one, as the workplace of Young-sik, the protagonist, and where he met his wife for the first time, as well as the playground where his son Hyuk had fun.

The performance, in order to deal with the massive amount of time ranging from 1960 to 2008, makes use of all four sides of the theater, and the secrets hidden in the audience seats, the power of the production and the movement of its actors that make this possible being one of its strengths. Unlike fixed seats, the audiences are to move in four directions divided into all sides. Thanks to the actors moving seats to different places, viewers can enjoy the show by moving in different axes of time and space.

However, the moving seats, once surprising and enjoyable, become a bit uncomfortable, which resonates with what is happening in the story. The audience is moved in other directions while the sound of helicopters and tanks travel around the place and the actors collapse here and there. The viewers might wonder, as a joke, if the actors are too exhausted to move the chairs, and then think that this is the intention of the director.

Swirling emotions, which are hard to identify but make the audience contemplate, kick in. The viewers are not sure whether the scene means the bystanders in 1980 who did not do anything, or the feeling of helplessness of the people who could not do anything, or the resentment of the victims, or the tired and lethargic conditions that they experience while witnessing injustice in the present. Through the strenuous movement of the seats, the audience begins to realize that the story could be about themselves as well.

Hearing the title of the show,<A Time Painter>, for the first time, I assumed that it might deal with the conflict between the act of concealing the May 18 and the act of remembering the day. In addition, like many similar performances, I expected to see the revelations of the horrible truth of the uprising in the show. However, contrary to my assumptions, the work presented the daily lives of people living at the office, and it is only in a brief way that the play demonstrates the moment when the peaceful everyday is destroyed.

However, through the flow of time, we naturally understand and grasp the fact that the play does talk about the May 18 Uprising with the symbol that the office contains. This can happen since we have lived in and heard about the place and have tried to protect the spirit of May 18.

Besides the axes of time and space that play a significant role in the play, various devices to help the audience have fun and understand the content are hidden everywhere. In particular, the apple of three grandmothers that appear here and there throughout the play is one of them. The viewers naturally understand, as they watch the show, that the old ladies were “samsinhalmeoni,” who oversee the birth of a child, since Myeong-sim, who was given the apple from the grandmothers, ate it with Young-sik and had a baby. Additionally, we can tell that the apples scattered on the ground on behalf of Myeong-sim and the victims under the helicopter work as a metaphor for “life.” On the one hand, I could not help but wonder why the “apples” were used; the word “apology” came to mind since the play might want to convey the message that the sacrificed citizens of Gwangju deserve a sincere apology.

The performances came to an end for 2023. I would like to finish this review of <A Time Painter> by looking forward to other performances dedicated to variations of the story of the May 18 Uprising.