Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
A love story that blurs boundaries
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“Kiss & Cry,” a performance that combines dance, film and literature, will be staged at the LG Arts Center in southern Seoul on March 6-9. / Courtesy of LG Arts Center
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Michele Anne De Mey, left, and Jaco Van Dormael
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The LG Arts Center, which is earning a reputation for experimental shows, will open its new season with an imaginative work that combines dance, film and literature.
“Kiss & Cry,” which will be staged at the southern Seoul venue from March 6 to 9, is a creation of Belgian movie director Jaco Van Domael and his wife Michele Anne De Mey, a reputed choreographer.
Exploiting the latest advantage in multimedia and stage technologies, the couple blurs the boundaries of traditional genres in dramatizing a story about a woman and her old loves, based on a short story of the same title by Belgian author Thomas Gunzig.
The result is perhaps the most stunning visual experience performed at LG since the 2007 staging of Robert Lepage’s “Andersen Project.”
Upon entering the theater, the audience will face a large screen erected on the stage, a set of miniature buildings, vehicles and everyday objects, and a buzzing group of photographers and film crew.
The performance combines pre-recorded music and narration with live footage of acting fed directly to the screen. Most of the “acting” here is done with fingers, elaborately-choreographed movement — performed by De Mey and Gregory Grosjean — filmed in close-up.
The fingers convey a broad range of human emotions — happiness, sadness, passion, despair, fear and lust — and the sophisticated expression justifies the unconventional, multimedia delivery.
“LG Arts Center staged a few performances that used live footage as a part of a play such as Flemish director Ivo van Hove’s ‘Opening Night,’ but Kiss & Cry is an entirely different experience. Theatergoers will feel as if they are partaking in the filming of a movie from start to finish,” said Chelsea Oh, an LG spokeswoman.
While the show is the story of a woman, it will be narrated by a man. For the Korean production, Yoo Ji-tae, a film actor and director, recorded the narration in January.
LG Arts Center considered running Korean subtitles with the original narration by Van Dormael, but decided to record the Korean version out of fear that subtitles might be a distraction.
Van Dormael handpicked Yoo after reviewing the voices of Korean actors and artists.
“I am honored to narrate this performance. I’m excited to see how Van Dormael’s direction of genius is going to be unraveled on stage," Yoo said.
Kiss & Cry premiered in Belgium in 2011 and traveled to France, Italy, Switzerland, Canada and the United States, before heading to Korea.
Tickets cost from 30,000 to 70,000 won. For more information, call (02) 2005-0114 or visit www.lgart.com.