 Ariel
Dorfman, a native of Chile, is a popular playwright who is also
world-renowned for his so-called “Resistance Trilogy”:
Widows, Death and the Maiden and Reader. His latest
work, written for the NNTT’s “Scenes of Men and Women”
Series, will soon take the stage at the theatre. Various borders,
such as national boundaries, physical walls, discrimination and
prejudice, exist in all places in the world and in all ages, upsetting
the lives of many people. The Other Side, which identifies
the cruelty of barriers that exist in the minds of people, sometimes
overriding all else, depicts such borders in allegorical yet realistic
style, sharply and confidently revealing the world’s diverse
problems with which we are all faced today. Staging this play will
be Sohn Jin-chaek, who was the executive director for the opening
ceremony of the 2002 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament held jointly
by Japan and Korea, and currently the object of keen interest in
South Korea. He has directed a wide range of plays and is known
for his powerful style, which incorporates traditional Korean performing
arts into contemporary drama, and expectations are growing on the
dramatic space he will give to the world premiere of this work.
The Chilean writer has a keen awareness and unique sense of national
boundaries, which Japanese cannot really understand through their
daily lives. The South Korean director will meet with talented Japanese
actors and actresses to create a “past, present and future
of human beings” for the next generation. This work will communicate
the universal image of human beings that emerges therefrom to the
rest of the world.
The Second in the “Scenes of
Men and Women” Series Reflects on the Beauty and Ugliness
of Dialogs Using Human Language
Synopsis
The action takes place in a certain country in a certain period.
A war has raged between two countries for many years. A husband
and wife are involved in confirming the identity of dead bodies
at a hut near the border of the two countries. Every time someone
is killed, the couple brings their body into the hut to collect
pertinent information and bury the body on behalf of the surviving
family. When the body of a young man is brought into the room, the
wife always examines it thinking that he might be her missing son.
The couple has long waited the return of their son, who left home
at age 15. Upon discovering that he is descended from a family with
ancestry in both countries, the son proclaimed that he would visit
his mother’s homeland to trace the roots of his ancestors,
but has never returned. Before long, news of a long-awaited cease-fire
comes over the radio.
And suddenly, an unknown man breaks through the wall of the hut.
In front of the couple, struck dumb with surprise, the man identifies
himself as a border guard and starts to divide the room into two
in order to establish a new border…
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