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A scene from the Cho-In Theater's production of ``Hotel Splendid,'' a play written by American playwright Lavonne Mueller. / Courtesy of Cho-In Theater |
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
The horrific experience of Korean comfort women is recreated on stage with American playwright Lavonne Mueller's heartbreaking play ``Hotel Splendid,'' whose theater run in Seoul ended Monday.
``Hotel Splendid'' is a vivid recreation of the plight of four young Korean women, merely a few among the estimated 200,000 comfort women employed in Japanese military brothels during World War II. The Cho-In Theater recently staged the Korean version of ``Hotel Splendid'' at the Arko Arts Theater, Daehangno.
The story revolves around 17-year-old Keum-sun, who badly wants to escape; 16-year-old Bo-bae, who falls for a Japanese soldier; 11-year-old Sun-hee, who keeps a cricket as a pet; and 18-year-old Ok-dong, who continues to mourn for her husband and child. The original play used the English translated names of characters such as Child of Gold for Keum-sun, Precious Girl for Bo-bae, Happy Virtue for Sun-hee and Little Jade Girl for Ok-dong.
The play opens with the four women in the shadows, as the sound of falling bombs and haunting music linger in the background. ``Use anger to cast them into chaos. Tire them by flight. Be subtle to the point of formlessness. Cause division among them. Be mysterious to the point of soundlessness,'' the introduction reads.
``Hotel Splendid'' is the name of an actual comfort station that was established by the Japanese military and which employed thousands of Korean women. At this ``hotel,'' Japanese soldiers pay 2 yen for a 30-minute visit with a comfort woman.
There are no graphic depictions of sex or brutality on stage. It is Mueller's poetic lines that strike the heart and create disturbing images in one's head. Throughout the play, you wonder how anyone can survive and remain sane when you are servicing at least 20 men a day. Yet the four women survive, thanks to their emotional and physical support for one another.
Ok-dong (played by Lee Sang-hee), who was pregnant with her dead husband's child, suffers a miscarriage after being repeatedly raped. Bo-bae (played by Lee Sun-hee) experiences her first love with a 16-year old Japanese soldier who is being trained to become a kamikaze (suicide) pilot.
But the most moving story is about Sun-hee (played by Ahn Got-nim), who is separated from her mother and ends up in the comfort station. Sun-hee's loss of innocence is especially more dramatic, since she has not even had her period yet.
One particular scene where Sun-hee breaks down in tears as she hears the Japanese soldiers lining up at the ``hotel'' once again, is the most heart wrenching.
As the other women soothe Sun-hee, you realize these young women's strength and bravery to endure all the pain and torture they experienced. When Sun-hee starts singing ``Arirang,'' you can be sure there is no dry eye in the theater.
You cannot leave the theater without being inspired by the strength of these women who have suffered so much during the war and even after the war. It is said many of the comfort women were massacred when the war ended. The women who did survive had to deal with shame and rejection from society.
At the end of the play, Mueller reminds us the fight of the comfort women is not yet over: ``The enemy of truth is not falsehood. It is forgetfulness.''
Surviving Korean comfort women still demand an official apology from the Japanese government, revision of Japanese history textbooks, compensatory payments and a memorial museum, but to little success.
Park Chung-euy directed the play, while Choi Young-ju translated the English play into Korean.
cathy@koreatimes.co.kr
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