Hi Seoul Fest to highlight street performances

This year’s Hi Seoul Festival will highlight more than 50 acts and street performances, including eight acts invited from overseas.

Under the theme of “Let’s play on the street,” the festival is being held from Oct. 1 through 4 at various public venues throughout the capital city, including Seoul Plaza, Cheonggye Plaza, Gwanghwamun Square, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul Station, Sejong-daero, Deoksugung-gil and Seoul Citizens’ Hall.

Whether it’s the large-scale outdoor parade or free street performances of all varieties, including historical, traditional, b-boy dancing or avant-garde, the Hi Seoul Fest promises fun for all tastes and ages.

Kicking off the year’s celebration is the original English high-suspending outdoor aerial performance of “As the World Tipped.”

The picturesquely risky wire aerial show will feature performers dangling from wires, posing in various forms and acrobatic stunts. The artistic live show will be held for three consecutive nights at Seoul Plaza from Oct. 1.

Another of the Hi Seoul Fest’s most-anticipated international performances is the upcoming Korea-France live collaboration performance piece, “Beautiful Escape: Emergency Exit.” The comical and dramatic tale of life and aging follows the story of an elderly man’s escape from a nursing home, reminiscing about his youth and attempting to imagine a new life for himself.

This performance will include actors from the French national theater as well as professional local actors and amateur actors from the senior citizen’s theater group. The show will be held on Oct. 2 and 3 at the Seoul Museum of Art and the Cheonggye Plaza, respectively.

Closing out the festival will be a special local production of “Grandmother’s 70th Birthday Party” by director Yim Su-taek. Meant to be an artistic visual tale unfolding in the form of a promenade street theater performance, the piece revolves itself around a larger than life, 8-meter-tall puppet of a 70-year-old granny.

The creative performance follows the story line of a grandmother setting off to attend her 70th birthday party, all the while recalling the political and social clashes and revolutions that eventually led to the country’s 70th year of liberation.

For more information on events for this year’s Hi Seoul Festival and a performance schedule, visit www.hiseoulfest.org.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)