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Strong writing; assured acting; simple but effective use and integration of multimedia.
What I didn't like
Nothing
My overall impression
Loved, loved, loved the play! It was sort of a powerfully realist, political theater that made me think of our common narratives of modernity, its beginnings, and its defining events. It is typical to locate the inception of our modern world in “famous” historical processes such as the Italian renaissance, the scientific advancements of Europe in the seventeenth century, or the French and American revolutions of the eighteenth century. This is all correct, but The King’s Language reminds us also of King Sejong’s introduction of alphabetic writing to Korea in the fifteenth century. It was a transformative act of democratic politics that, as such, deserves to be included in our narratives of progress and political modernization. Chris Yejin and her talented troupe have produced an engrossing rendering of the story behind the Korean alphabet, and they have managed to do so with humor, wit, and a performative intensity that made for a moving and rousing theatrical experience.