Guerrilla Theatre

The Revolutionary Method of Jungle Guerrillas

About the Play

Launched in 2007 by the Seoul Theater Festival, “Sprout, Plays!” is an initiative designed to unearth innovative original playscripts. Through an open call for original scripts and staged readings to evaluate theatre companies, the festival pairs selected scripts with matching ensembles to stage them as official selections of the Seoul Theater Festival.

In 2014, playwright Oh Se-hyeok’s Guerrilla Theatre was chosen as the sole winning script, paired with Theater Troupe Arirang for production. Past selections of “Sprout, Plays!” have earned enthusiastic acclaim from both critics and audiences, and Guerrilla Theatre stands out as one of the most anticipated highlights of this year’s festival.

“The dramatic structure seamlessly weaves theatrical symbolism and traditional madang-geuk conventions. The playwright’s mastery in driving the narrative through allegorical and satirical humor demonstrates an exceptional power to engage wide audiences.”
— From the script competition jury remarks

“Theater Troupe Arirang sensitively delivered the script’s layered symbols and tragedy through music. By faithfully interpreting the playwright’s ambition to deepen the narrative through the collision of comedy and tragedy, they brought forth a profoundly resonant production.”
— From the staged reading jury remarks

Director’s Note

Guerrilla Theatre was inspired by an anecdote involving Brazilian theatre director Augusto Boal. Guerrillas hiding in the South American jungle asked Boal to teach them theatre. They wanted to explain to nearby villagers why they were fighting against the regime, but they were illiterate—almost all had grown up as impoverished peasant farmers. Theatre was the only way they could express their thoughts.

Boal visited the jungle once a month to coach them. Yet with each visit, fewer fighters remained; one by one, they were killed in ongoing clashes with government forces. One day, Boal arrived in the jungle to find only two guerrillas surviving. When they hesitantly asked if they could perform the piece as a two-man play, Boal reacted with anguish and rage:

“What on earth is the point of doing theatre in a living hell like this?”

The two guerrillas looked at him quietly and replied: “If we don’t even have theatre in a living hell like this, how are we supposed to survive?”

These timid, impoverished peasants—hardly suited for warfare—had cast a continuous spell on themselves through theatre, trying desperately to become brave guerrillas.

“If we don’t even have theatre in a living hell like this, how are we supposed to survive?”

Synopsis

Deep in the jungle lies a guerrilla hideout! The Captain, Big Eyes, Grumpy, and Double Eyelids: they left home behind to change the world. Yet they have never even seen an airplane, and their only weapons are carved wooden rifles.

One quiet day, the roar of an aircraft echoes through the jungle. Terrified by the deafening, piercing sound they have never heard before, they freeze. Propaganda leaflets flutter down like snow over the canopy…

At the foot of the mountain live the Forest Keeper and Pretty Girl. “This is the last piece of bread! Never come back!” “You’re nothing but hungry vagrants in tattered rags carrying wooden sticks! Exactly like the leaflets say!”

The guerrillas trudge back into the jungle, chewing on dry crusts of bread. “We can’t win this war with combat alone. We must share our message with the people—just like those leaflets!” “Let’s make a play! We’ll convince the Forest Keeper through theatre!”

Meanwhile, a government patrol squad combs through the wilderness, closing in on the heart of the jungle…