‘Asses.lots’ to have Asian premiere in Seoul this weekend
When the viewers recordsdata into SFAC Theater Quad in Seoul’s Daehangno district this weekend, they received’t simply be watching a present — they’ll be taking part in a online game collectively.
“Asses.lots” is a seven-hour-plus online game instructed over 10 episodes. Designed to be performed from starting to finish in a stay theater setting, it invitations the viewers to take turns (or not) holding a single sport controller. The story follows a herd of donkeys who’ve misplaced their jobs to machines and are attempting to stand up and win them again. Between its 4 intermissions, snack is served.
Created by Patrick Blenkharn and Milton Lim, the present premiered in Argentina in 2023 and has since toured internationally. Its Seoul run, a part of the 2025 Seoul Performing Arts Competition, marks its Asian premiere earlier than shifting on to Sydney, Los Angeles and Boston subsequent 12 months.
Co-creators described the work as “a giant, enjoyable occasion,” but additionally as an area the place playful, philosophical and political discussions happen, and the place individuals grow to be mates from being strangers.
“We should always say that it doesn’t really feel so long as it sounds. It actually doesn’t. Time flies once you’re having enjoyable, and it truly is true,” mentioned Blenkharn chatting with The Korea Herald on Thursday. “We talked loads about the way it’s very regular for us to binge-watch TV reveals and the way most video video games take many, many hours. Then why not theater?”
The 2 first created a 20- to 25-minute prototype earlier than realizing the story they needed to inform wanted a number of extra episodes. And to construct emotional relationships with characters and for audiences to essentially care about them, they wanted extra time.
“And on the similar time, we realized that the extra time you spend taking part in video video games with your pals the higher mates you grow to be,” mentioned Lim.
With only one controller, “asses.lots” shifts between 2D and 3D sport genres corresponding to RPGs, side-scrollers, stealth missions, rhythm video games and even old-school platformers harking back to Tremendous Mario.
However past its playful floor, the sport is a pointed allegory about labor and democracy. The viewers negotiates who performs, who leads and who steps right down to let others take over. What emerges is a dwelling dialog about management and democracy.
“Donkeys had a really integral place throughout the historical past of constructing civilizations over the past hundreds years. We had been within the query of the place and the way a donkey does work right now and the way they’ve largely been pushed outdoors of cities,” mentioned Blenkharn.
“We should always say that a variety of these questions really feel very potent proper now. Being changed by machines and applied sciences are very outdated tales,” added Lim.
Inside the present, there aren’t any performers however a online game with the viewers delegated to do the labor of the performers. This designed format intersects with the contributors’ understanding of the issues taking place outdoors of the cinema, of jobs being in danger or changed, Lim defined.
“Which jobs ought to be changed, which of them should not be changed, how does everybody really feel about it, how can we all survive collectively and the way can we negotiate all of those modifications as we go on?”
Blenkharn famous that viewers dynamics typically mirror politics.
“Generally we now have nice leaders for 2 or three episodes, after which possibly not-so-great ones,” he mentioned. “Possibly they don’t pay attention, or possibly they’re simply actually unhealthy on the sport. Or they’re nice on the sport however not nice listeners. Both method, all of it strikes the story ahead.”
Throughout its many tour stops, the creators have seen cultural nuances but additionally shared responses.
“Typically, as individuals play the sport, there are extra similarities than variations,” Lim mentioned. “We stay in a globalized world, and the present is normally carried out in international locations formed by a capitalist, neoliberal labor mindset,” mentioned Blenkharn.
Lim mentioned that he’s notably interested by Korean audiences.
“Each time I’ve performed a large multiplayer on-line sport, the Korean servers are essentially the most critical, intense and expert,” he mentioned. “Korean e-Sports activities has actually blossomed and it is actually taken significantly on a world degree, like, everybody understands Korean e-sports are the strongest,” mentioned Lim.
Blenkharn added, “Korea has, in current many years, been a frontrunner in peaceable revolution and protest, demonstrating methods to the world the opposite methods of voicing dissent.”
As Lim put it, co-creators hoped audiences who include openness, able to play, snigger and pay attention, and with out heavy expectations of what counts as theater or a online game.
“It’s not only a sport, and never simply theater,” Lim mentioned. “Probably the most rewarding moments for us have been when audiences are available open to discovering the probabilities of that house in between.”
hwangdh@heraldcorp.com
