“It’s not a familiar hero tale. It’s the story of the warhorses that carried those heroes,” lyricist and playwright Han Areum said Monday at a news conference at Daehakro Arts Theater in Seoul. “It starts with Jeokto’s birth, follows its life as a warhorse on the battlefield, and shows it growing through brutal reality and coming to understand life.”
The original musical ‘Jeokto_History of the Reins and Saddle’ (3.7.~3.29. SH Art Hall) reinterprets the classic ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’ from the viewpoint of a warhorse rather than a hero. Through the stories of horses that went unrecorded and were used up, it looks back on human life as something not unlike war. The production is one of the March premieres in the 18th Performing Arts Creative Stage Lab’s “New Works of the Year,” which opened in January and has reached its midpoint.
Han said the reins and saddle in the work symbolize “power, the era and personal choice.” Citing “Lu Bu’s charge, Cao Cao’s power and Guan Yu’s loyalty,” she said the musical argues that “it’s not the strongest who survive, but those who endure to the end.”
Asked why audiences should see it, Han said she hopes it prompts people to think about what they are running toward. “We, too, got here riding on someone else’s back,” she said. “I wanted to stage this piece so we could reflect on that humility.”
The fourth lineup announced for the Creative Stage Lab includes ‘Jeokto_History of the Reins and Saddle’ as well as the plays ‘Tulip’ and ‘In the House Where I Lived,’ the original musicals ‘Joker’ and ‘ROGER,’ the dance work ‘I Have Been Bitten by a Dog,’ and the music program ‘An Old Man Who Lends Romance.’ The works will open sequentially between March 1 and 13 at major venues around Seoul’s Daehakro theater district, including Arko Arts Theater and Daehakro Arts Theater.
‘Tulip’ (3.1.~3.8. Daehakro Arts Theater Grand Theater) is set in a Tokyo household in the late 1920s and traces the marks war leaves on life and relationships through a character who has lost even family and name and lives under someone else’s identity.
Director Jeon In-cheol said the play centers on a man who comes to an upper-class Tokyo mansion in the 1920s to find his missing son. He said it portrays how imperial violence destroys individual lives through a father who, instead of seeking revenge, must sacrifice himself for his child.
‘In the House Where I Lived’ (3.7.~3.15. Daehakro Arts Theater Small Theater) is set in the late 1970s and the present and tells the stories of women who did not fit into their era or society.
Writer Ma Jeong-hwa said the story follows four women who do not belong in their respective societies — women who struggle to escape their circumstances, run away, cannot run away, or believe they now must run.
Performance details for the 18th Creative Stage Lab are available on its official website and social media channels. Tickets can be booked through the Arko and Daehakro Arts Theater websites and NOL Ticket.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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