Record of crossing the Motoyasu River with a turtle in August
DOOSAN ART LAB Theatre 2025
Jan.16.2025 ~ Jan.18.2025Space111No Charge
Over 13 age
100min, Showcase
*Artist Talk – 1.18(Sat) after the Performance
- ProgramDOOSAN Art LAB
Record of Crossing the Motoyasu River with a Turtle in August
Bonjoo, a playwright and director of the theater company Project Vievie, delves into the meaning of “survival” from various perspectives. Her works, born from meticulous observations of environments that test the limits of endurance, explore themes of violence and memory, and ultimately focus on stories about “living, enduring, and surviving.”
Can we ever truly be free from violence? This question lies at the heart of Record of Crossing the Motoyasu River with a Turtle in August, an autobiographical exploration of the enduring impact of war. The play follows the story of Irae, a 13-year-old child journalist who, in the spring of 1997, attends a groundbreaking ceremony for the relocation of a memorial dedicated to the Korean victims of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan. Amidst the heat of the unexpectedly hot day, Irae encounters a peculiar storyteller: the turtle statue Kame-kun, who carries the memorial on its back. Kame-kun recounts a haunting tale about a dog and a laborer who vanished without a trace in a boiling river during the bombing. Seen through Irae’s 13-year-old eyes, the remnants of war resurface, revealing the unresolved fractures in history that still call for reflection.