'Wives' to bring therapeutic story on stage

A scene from the play "Vacation of Wives" which will be staged from April 1 to 17 at COEX Art Hall in southern Seoul. / Courtesy of Planner Korea

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By Chung Ah-young

Today no one is free from modern malaises such as depression, isolation and anxiety. Unlike Western societies, Koreans have regarded psychiatric problems as taboo and people are reluctant to turn to experts when they face mental hardship.

The play "Vacation of Wives" will offer an outlet for audience members that might suffer from the same agonies, and an opportunity to sympathize with actors on stage.

The drama revolves around a mother, a daughter and a daughter-in-law, who all have psychiatric issues buried deep inside.
Veteran actress Son Sook will appear as the mother Im Mun-gyeong, who had trouble with her late husband because of his extramarital affair but now lives with yearnings for him and a deep wound in her heart. Lee Sun-joo plays the 40-year-old Oh Ji-young, the daughter who battles depression since an early menopause, while daughter-in-law Yu Nan-hee, played by So Hee-jung, who is obsessed with a "superwoman" complex, wanting to be perfect in her everyday role as a mother and wife.

The three women take a trip to the United States to celebrate Im's wedding anniversary, but they miss the plane home and stay at the airport for one night. There, they come to open up their minds and understand each other's view. The play portrays the inner struggles and hurt that modern women often experience and offers solutions as to how to cure them.

"The play will show the question and answer to 'what is true happiness?' The drama begins with such a fundamental question and finds an answer for that", Park Hye-sun, the director, said in a press release.

"The mise-en-scene will focus on the psychiatric status of the three women through music and lights and the process of how they find their true selves through the journey", he added.

After the drama, professional psychiatrists from the Korean Neuropsychiatric Association (KNPA) will hold a question and answer session with the audience along with Sohn. They will analyze the behavior of the three protagonists from psychiatric perspectives and offer solutions to overcome it.

The play will be staged from April 1 to 17 at the COEX Art Hall in southern Seoul. Tickets cost 35,000 won.