THE REUNIFICATION OF THE TWO KOREAS by TheatreWorks

“Love can be enough”

Reviewer: Myle Yan Tay
Performance: 3 November 2018

TheatreWorks wraps up its “Because I Love You” season with The Reunification of the Two Koreas, a collection of stories reflecting on love. The team takes on an ambitious task, with nine actors playing over 50 characters and presenting 20 narratives. The production does this successfully, creating an engaging and emotional journey filled with heartfelt, comic, and devastating moments.

Jacques Vincey, the show’s director, melds the different elements of theatre to create a seamless and immersive experience. Every member of the cast is electric, bringing new energies and life to the characters. Timothy Nga and Janice Koh deserve special mentions for their ability to fully embody the complex language of the play.

Marie-Christine Soma’s lighting is subtle and precise, suggesting new worlds with small changes in the lighting state. Each costume by Afton Chen is unique and evokes a different sense of time and space. Bani Haykal’s stand-out sound design deftly shifts between eerie and comforting, soothing and tense, and sometimes all at once. And the moments of comedy are put to their fullest effect, and laughs are often followed by a chilling hush across the audience.

Joël Pommerat’s script, translated from French to English by Marc Goldberg, places the audience in a new auditory landscape. It is clear from the start that the language of the play is going to be slightly off from our reality. This is what makes The Reunification of Two Koreas such an absorbing theatrical experience. It evokes miniature worlds with every scene, all unified within the same linguistic universe. Each world gives the suggestion of a larger story, of which we only get snippets, just a taste of what it has to offer. There are brief pauses to consider what brought the characters to each scene and where they went after. But then the next scene starts, with a new imaginative premise.

Even when treading on familiar territory such as the wife with Alzheimer’s or the adulterous husband, the distinct language and clarity of direction makes stories feel new. The only times this reviewer feels the play is not pushing as hard are the two scenes involving sex workers. These are still caught in a male fantasy, without the same deconstructive eye applied to the other relationships within the play.

There is a formal break near the end of the piece, through a multimedia segment. It is a jarring moment that interrupts the production, and its meaning is never made fully clear. But it is provocative and unsettling, and something this reviewer will continue to reflect on long after the show’s run ends.

The Reunification of Two Koreas dismantles what we think about love. But it is ultimately not cynical, and instead channels its deconstruction of love into a rejuvenating and emotional experience.