Audience joins in the dance at audience-participation musical

The actors dressed in black rolled up their sleeves and sent a cue, and the audience started moving. The lively song started, and the crowd began to bob their heads and tap their toes. Suddenly, an actor parted the curtains and gestured towards an open space, and the audience started walking in the direction. There were four compartments, each housing ‘four souls summoned to a dimensional rift that opens only once every millennium,’ waiting to reenact their funerals.

‘Different Dimensions,’ performed on March 17 at Geumnarae Art Hall in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul, was an audience-participation musical where the audience creates work together from start to finish. A total of 80 audience members gathered in the theater lobby before the show started and followed the call of the actors playing crows as guides. The audience members took to the stage one by one, leaving the audience chairs empty. The stage was divided into four sections through a curtain, and although they could not see each other, they can recognize and communicate through sound, such as singing and footsteps.

The story was told entirely through songs, without any dialog. The seven dynamic numbers blend contemporary music with hip-hop, prioritizing rhythm over lyrics and melody. As the main characters had their funerals in unwanted ways, the audience was encouraged to reflect on their own lives by experiencing the lives and deaths of the main characters. The choreography was simple enough for the audience. They could stand or sit on the provided handkerchiefs.

The musical was co-produced by LG Arts Center and the theater company Elephants Laugh, which won the New Concept Play Award at the 59th Dong-A Theater Awards in January this year. Tickets for March 17 and 18 were sold out. The show will be performed at the LG Arts Center Seoul U+ Stage in Gangseo-gu, Seoul, from April 15 to 23. All seats are 45,000 won.


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