A woman stares out the window. She seems distressed, and she lights a cigarette and puts it to her mouth. The cigarette smoke spreads throughout the theater, and the play Vincent River begins in earnest. Although this is not revealed in its opening scenes, Vincent River revolves around a hate crime against a homosexual man. In addition to the typical despair the families of victims already face, the victim’s family in this play has to deal withtwo revelations in the aftermath of the crime — that a member of their family was a sexual minority and that he was victimized because of it. Looking at how a bereaved family confronts their wounds, Vincent River tells a story of people who face an enormous shift in their lives due to a homophobic crime.

The play starts by introducing Anita, a woman who is lost in grief. One day, her only son Vincent is found murdered in an abandoned train station. It is later discovered that Vincent was attacked for being gay. However, the media and the community focus on Vincent’s newly exposed sexual orientation rather than the tragic loss of life. Anita’s neighbors are no different, expressing their hostility toward Anita due to her dead son’s sexuality. In response, without any time to grieve over the loss of her precious son, Anita moves out of her house, which is full of memories of her son. At this time, a man named Davie begins to hover around her. Anita invites Davie to her new house, and the play charts Anita and Davie’s conversations.

Vincent River first premiered at the Hampstead Theatre in London on September 6, 2000. It was written by Philip Ridley, an artist based in the United Kingdom (UK). In addition to playwriting, he has also been active in the visual arts and film. According to ScreenAnarchy, Ridley has referred to the various forms of media that he utilizes to convey his stories as “different peaks of the same mountain,” deeming the narrative as central to his work, and the medium as a form of expression. In accordance with Ridley’s philosophy, Vincent River effectively utilizes the medium of theater to convey the core themes of the work.

Strange Conversations

A witness to Vincent’s murder, Davie had only observed the crime scene and the last moments of Vincent’s life.Conversely, Anita knows everything about Vincent, except his final moments. Anita talks to Davie about her life with Vincent and Vincent’s childhood and adolescence, and Davie gives an account of the crime scene to Anita. Because Anita and Davie each exclusively recall different times in Vincent’s life, they endeavor to comfort each other’s wounded heart by exchanging their memories of Vincent. Their conversations about their memories of Vincent can be interpreted as their strange but functional way of consoling each other and themselves.

Their conversations are intense; they yell and swear at each other and lose their temper. However, through extreme emotional expression, they reach a profound level of understanding of each other and expose brutally honest thoughts from deep inside themselves. The window in the background and the stage lighting amplify the strangeness of the conversations. Through slight shifts in the window or in the control of the lighting, the acting — in particular, the intense emotional exchanges between Anita and Davie — is visually emphasized.

In the early stages of becoming acquainted with Anita, Davie hesitates to talk about the crime scene and, even when he does, he purposely falsely recounts it. However, after time passes and they share so much of themselves through deep discussions, Davie establishes a unique type of relationship with Anita and gradually reveals the truth. Along with the transition of the window backdrop from shining with the bright light of daytime to reflecting the cold, pale light of dawn, Davie slowly begins to disclose what he had previously concealed. At daybreak, when people are said to be the mostsentimental and honest about their own feelings, Davie finally reveals the whole truth that had been hidden in his interiorworld.

The Cigarette Smoke, the Alcohol, and the Stage

During the play, cigarette smoke fills the theater several times. The audience is able to smell the cigarette smoke as the characters in the play do, and this olfactory effect intensifies the audience’s immersion in the performance. In addition, Anita and Davie drink alcohol during their extreme emotional conversations. In general, people drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes when they encounter situations that are hard to overcome in a sober state. Likewise, at the moment of a tremendous emotional outburst, alcohol and cigarettes appear in the scene. The audience can thus read the emotional state of the actors through the appearance of cigarettes and alcohol.

Various other items on the stage also have their own roles. At the beginning of the play, the items are arranged in an organized manner. Nevertheless, as the play progresses, the items become jumbled into a mess. As the actors let their emotions burst outwards, the items are thrown on the floor and scattered across the stage. As such, the props on the stage are not just accessories; rather, their arrangement symbolizes the characters’ emotional state. Just as the cigarette smoke confirms the characters’ emotions through smell, the arrangement of the stage props allows the audience to recognized changes in the play’s emotional atmosphere.

Unlike other crime-related stories that concentrate on the victim’s narrative, Vincent River highlights how a victim’s family and a witness to the crime inevitably cross a threshold from a world where the crime did not occur into a world where, unfortunately, it did. Accepting the death of a loved one or remembering the death you have witnessed is very arduous. With visual and olfactory effects, the conversations — a sorrowful means to face the hurt — between Anita and Davie are intensified. Throughout the play, the actors’ performances enable the audience to sympathize with Anita and Davie’s feelings. Taking the audience on a roller coaster ride of emotions, Vincent River may make them shudder with sorrow.

Performance Information

Venue: Theater Black at the Chungmu Art Center

Date: From April 27 to July 11

Running Time: 120 minutes

Ticket Price: R Seat: 55,000 won / S Seat: 45,000 won