By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Various theatrical festivals are planned in major cities, livening up the local theater scene.
Seoul and the southern port city of Pusan (Busan) will entertain the public with plays that range from the diverse to experimental productions.
Busan International Performing Arts Festival (BIRAF)
The festival, which will be staged at nine venues in the region for 11 days starting May 5, is on track to become a representative spring festival, following its inception in 2004, similar to the Pusan International Film Festival held in the fall.
It is noted for selecting productions based on ``concepts,'' which differ every year.
The main concept for this year will be ``Revolt or Recreation,'' following ``Non-Verbal,'' which was the main theme in 2006, and will feature plays in the Eastern and Western traditions.
A total of 18 productions with 196 artists from eight countries _ Germany, Russia, the United States, France, Japan, the Czech Republic, Puerto Rico and Korea _ make up the festival.
Participants will parody classic masterpieces and reinterpret them from new and diverse perspectives.
The festival consists of three sections _ The Classics, BIRAF Stage and Theater for the Family.
Six foreign productions will be seen for the first time in Korea including a different style of ``Hamlet'' by the Tiny Ninja Theater from the United States and the Russian AKHE Engineering Theater's ``Mr. Carmen.''
South Korea's veteran director Oh Tae-suk's adaptation of ``Romeo and Juliet'' will open the festival, while ``Robert's Dream'' by the Theatre DEREVO, a German-Russian theater company, will be the closing performance.
For this year's festival, all plays will be put on at street venues to closely interact with the audiences.
Also, the festival is planning to allow visitors to participate in directing plays themselves in the ``Ten-Minute Play Festival.''
A workshop titled ``Method Workshop'' will invite world-renowned directors Seleznev Vladimir Proxorovich from Russia and American Peter S. Petralia to show their theatrical methods. They will also put on their interpretations of the same play in the form of a competition at the end of the festival.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has subsidized this year's festival with 100 million won in the hopes of promoting it as an international event.
Last year, tickets for the opening and closing performances were sold out, while some 90 percent of tickets for other performances were snapped up. For more information, call (051) 627-2744 or visit www.bipaf.com.