On a stage draped in a giant white cloth, two actors dressed in white stand side by side. As the two converse alternately in Korean and French, their voices transport the audience to a snowy Jeju Island and a tragic past where villagers fell victim to military and police massacres. The moment the actors pause to catch their breath after reading a sentence, the memories and emotions carried in their voices blossom into different scenes in the minds of every audience member.
This was a scene from the reading play Birds, performed on the 10th and 11th at the Sogang University Mary Hall Grand Theater in Shinsu-dong, Seoul. Based on Part 1 of Nobel Prize-winning author Han Kang’s novel We Do Not Part, the production was directed by French director Julie Deliquet, starring French actor Isabelle Huppert and Korean actor Lee Hye-young. Following its world premiere at the Avignon Festival in France last July, the show came to the domestic stage as an invited work of the Seoul International Performing Arts Festival (SPAF).
Reading plays are carving out an independent domain. Once considered merely showcases to test a work’s commercial potential during production or preliminary steps before a full-scale run, reading plays have transformed into stages that dynamically reinterpret literary works and classical plays. The recent run of Birds has drawn enthusiastic audiences, filling all 400 or so seats.
The Arts Council Korea (ARKO) is presenting five reading plays and four reading programs through the ‘2026 ARKO Literature Theater’ running from the 7th to the 31st of this month. Kim Ae-ran’s Foreign Body met audiences on October 7–8, followed by Ko Jae-gwi’s Somewhere, Someone on October 10–11. Upcoming performances include Kim Bo-young’s Stars Are Shining in Earth’s Sky on October 21 at Sanullim Small Theater in Seogyo-dong, Seoul, and Sung Hae-na’s Honmono on October 23, featuring actors Hwang Hyun-bin and Park Won-sang, respectively.
Actor Ye Soo-jung will star in Bae Sam-shik’s Hwajeonga on October 24, and actress Park Jeong-ja will appear in Han Kang’s Human Acts on October 25 at Sanullim Small Theater. These performances incorporate stereophonic sound and projection-mapped dialogue to enhance the actors’ readings. An ARKO representative noted, “It will be an opportunity to experience literature through new senses.
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Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-dong is also hosting a Korean literature reading concert. The works of Hyeon Jin-ggeon, a writer who demonstrated resistance and national consciousness during the Japanese colonial period, are being brought to life through voice. Following Lucky Day on October 10, The Liquidation of Romance on the 16th and The Yearning Tearful Eyes on the 17th will engage audiences through reading performances on the stairs plaza inside the Arts Center.
The creative collective Gongnori Club is staging ‘Four Seasons Chekhov’ at Mapo Art Center Play Mac in Daeheung-dong, Seoul this year, adapting Anton Chekhov’s works into reading plays. After presenting The Cherry Orchard in April, Uncle Vanya in June, and Three Sisters in September, they plan to stage The Seagull in November.
Reading plays also provide an opportunity to encounter rare and contemporary overseas works. Because minimal stage equipment is required, production costs and preparation periods are significantly reduced, allowing various new plays to be staged quickly to gauge audience reactions. On October 14 and 15, Hong Kong playwright Candace Chong’s Neo Metropolis and Japanese playwright Yudai Kamasato’s A Story of Walking Down the Long Slope of Valparaíso will be presented to domestic audiences through director Jeon In-chul of the theater company Dolpagu.
Han Gwi-eun, a professor of Korean language education at Gyeongsang National University, stated, “The absence of traditional stage set pieces in reading plays leaves room for the audience’s imagination and memories to intervene, offering theatergoers an experience distinct from conventional plays.”
Reading plays offer a novel experience for actors as well. During a press conference held immediately after the performance of Birds on October 10, Isabelle Huppert remarked, “The language of literature and the language of theater are different. Han Kang’s sentences are unique, and since I had to reproduce that language through reading, I prepared with a deep focus on text reproduction and language.” She added, “Because reading plays do not rely on memorization, they move even closer to a theatrical performance.”
