A landmark production for the National Theater Company of Korea, “The Orphan of Zhao: Seeds of Revenge,” is marking its 10th anniversary with a seventh run at the National Theater’s Haeorum Theater through Sunday.
Adapted and directed by star director Koh Sun-woong, the play premiered in 2015 and has since become one of the company’s signature repertory works, drawing steady acclaim with an average seat occupancy of 93 percent and a cumulative audience of 36,000.
The production is a rarity in Korean theater, having remained a steady seller for a decade -- an uncommon feat in a theater landscape where long-running works are far less typical. The play also traveled to China in 2016.
“The Orphan of Zhao” is based on the Chinese "Zaju" drama script of the same title, written by the Yuan Dynasty playwright Ji Junxiang. Centered on a family’s tragedy and quest for vengeance, the story has often been likened to an Asian counterpart of “Hamlet.”
The plot follows Cheng Ying, a family physician to Gen. Tu’an Gu, as he struggles to save the last surviving child of the Zhao clan after the family is wiped out by the ruthless general. Cheng raises the child as his own, eventually revealing the truth of the Zhao family’s downfall and urging his son to avenge his relatives.
The drama probes the meaning of loyalty and revenge, and the futility of cycles of vengeance, while portraying an ordinary figure grappling with conscience and conviction. Though the work takes on weighty themes and draws on the familiar structure of good versus evil, it threads in comedic moments that ease the tension before plunging audiences back into the vortex of tragedy.
Koh, a lively storyteller at his best when reviving old tales for contemporary audiences, is known for hits such as the changgeuk staple “Madam Ong” and last year’s Seoul Metropolitan Theater production “Toongso Whistles,” which earned him a Baeksang Arts Award for theater.
“Because this is the 10th-anniversary production, it feels familiar to audiences, yet I hope it also reads in a new way,” Koh said. “I want to show that this is a work that can continue for the next hundred years.”
Chinese subtitles will be offered on Thursday and Saturday, and English subtitles on Friday and Sunday.
hwangdh@heraldcorp.com
