The Apology, a new play from South Korean playwright Kyo Choi will have its world premiere at the Arcola Theatre in London.
Directed by Ria Parry, The Apology explores the ‘comfort women’ of the Second World War and the subsequent political cover-up; it is based on true accounts by survivors. The show will run from 15 September 2022 until 8 October 2022 at the Arcola Theatre in London.
Casting for Kyo Choi‘s The Apology is to be announced.
Kyo Choi is a South Korean playwright and screenwriter based in London. Her first play Empowered was selected for Arcola Theatre’s PlayWROUGHT Festival in 2016. Previously, her play readings were staged at the Soho and Arcola Theatres.
The Apology is presented by New Earth Theatre and Arcola Theatre, in association with The North Wall. New Earth Theatre presents and develops work with British East and South East Asian (BESEA) artists that asks key questions of identity, of the world we live in and our place in that world.
Kumiko Mendl, Artistic Director of New Earth Theatre, said today, “I’m thrilled that New Earth will finally present Kyo Choi’s The Apology at the Arcola this autumn. When Kyo first began this play, there were less than fifty registered ‘comfort women’ still alive in South Korea. Now there are only fourteen, lending an urgency to a story that directly affected up to an estimated 200,000 women, not only from Korea. Developed through New Earth’s Professional Writers Programme, Kyo’s play brings this buried story to life. The quest for justice in the face of government sponsored atrocities against women continues to be as relevant today as it has ever been.”
Kyo Choi, writer, also said, “New Earth’s remit has been to champion BESEA talent, representation and voices. I didn’t want to write the classic historical trauma story but rather look at the subject through the lens of big geopolitics and the larger issue of personal and collective memories versus revisionism, how those dynamics play out when individuals are marginalised for a larger agenda. The core of the story is three women who address violence against women in different ways but with a common goal: to speak truth to power. It’s a timeless story and one that’s important, for me, on both a personal level – the strength and courage it takes to speak out – and global level where right-wing extremism, tyranny and censorship are destabilising democracies all over the world.”
Tickets for The Apology on sale now.
