“The Employees” in Korea – Polish Performance at the Seoul Performing Arts Festival

“The Employees”, performance directed by Łukasz Twarkowski will be presented three times during the Seoul Performing Arts Festival 2025, from 24 to 26 October 2025. This innovative production, based on the science-fiction novel by the Danish author Olga Ravn, explores key questions of identity and the boundaries between human and machine, taking audiences on a unique journey through the realms of technology and emotion. The Adam Mickiewicz Institute supports the presentation of the Polish performing arts scene in South Korea.

Seoul Performing Arts Festival 2025 – Future, Emotions, and Our Relationship with Technology

Founded in 2001, the Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) is Korea’s largest and longest-running international performing arts festival. It is held annually in October in Seoul’s Daehak-ro district. The 2025 festival began on 16 October and will run for four weeks. The programme includes 22 performances across theatre, dance, and interdisciplinary arts, as well as numerous workshops and creative laboratories. This year’s edition takes place on the stages of major cultural institutions, including the National Theater of Korea (Haeoreum Grand Theater), QUAD Theater in Daehak-ro, ARKO•Daehakro Arts Theater, Sejong S Theater, TINC (This is not a church), Jeongdong 1928 Art Center, and SFACTORY.

The 25th anniversary Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) is being held under the theme “Entanglement and Friction” – forces that diverse artists use to challenge the contemporary aesthetic experience, described by Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han as increasingly “smooth, clean, and uniform”. Inspired by his critique of the “aesthetics of smoothness” and the excess of positivity in culture, the festival seeks to explore the complexity of our era, its discourses, and evolving art forms. This year’s programme focuses on several thematic strands, including new relationships between art, science, and technology in the digital age, expanded and transformed performative languages of sound and new music, contemporary languages of dance, and Asia-Pacific artists’ perspectives on current social issues.

The history of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute’s cooperation with SPAF dates back to 2012, when the performance “(A)ppolonia”, directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski, was presented. In subsequent years, representatives of the festival visited Poland for a study tour during the Divine Comedy Festival. Seoul later presented productions including “Crime”, directed by Ewelina Marciniak, and “Woodcutters”, directed by Krystian Lupa. In 2025, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute is supporting the presentation of the “The Employees” performance, directed by Łukasz Twarkowski.

“The Employees” – An Innovative Performance by Łukasz Twarkowski in South Korea

“The Employees” is a performance based on the science-fiction novel of the same name by Danish writer Olga Ravn, a finalist for the 2021 International Booker Prize. The performance is distinguished by its participatory format: the audience is free to move around the space and experience the show from different perspectives, rather than watching the action solely from the stage. Thematically, the play addresses questions relevant to contemporary life, including doubts about the meaning of work, conflicts between humans and non-human entities, the crisis of relationships, control of emotions, life in a technology-dominated society, and humanity’s relationship with nature.

“The Employees” is set in the future, after the annihilation of Earth, aboard Spaceship 6000, an experimental project where humans and humanoid robots work together. In this highly enclosed space, audiences follow the fragmented accounts of crew members, recorded in the form of reports, and confront fundamental questions about identity, emotion, and consciousness. As the plot unfolds, crew members begin to reveal repressed emotions and a growing longing for Earth, triggered by contact with mysterious alien objects. Who is human and who is humanoid? The performance explores how human consciousness is reflected in external objects, examining the phenomenon known as the uncanny valley – an emotional response to beings that are similar, but not quite human, which heightens emotional tension. “The Employees” invites viewers to experience familiar science-fiction themes from a new perspective, prompting reflection on contemporary social issues. Although the action takes place in the distant future, millions of kilometres from Earth, the story is deeply rooted in the present day.

“The Employees” Performance in Seoul, South Korea 

• Performances:

  • Friday, 24 October 2025, 7:30 p.m.

  • Saturday, 25 October 2025, 3:00 p.m.

  • Sunday, 26 October 2025, 3:00 p.m.

• Venue: Arko Arts Theater Grand Theater (7 Daehak-ro 8-gil Street, Jongno District, Seoul, South Korea)

• Language: Performance in Polish with Korean and English surtitles

• An interview with the artists: 25 October 2025

• Tickets and more information are available at: spaf.or.kr

• Director: Łukasz Twarkowski

• Based on the novel: “The Employees” by Danish writer Olga Ravn

• Artists: Translation from Danish: Bogusława Sochańska; Text adaptation, dramaturgy: Joanna Bednarczyk; Stage design: Fabien Lédé; Video: Jakub Lech; Lights: Bartosz Nalazek; Costumes: Svenja Gassen; Music: Lubomir Grzelak; Movement consultant: Rob Wasiewicz; Assistant director: Adam Zdunczyk; Concept facilitation: Szymon Adamczak; Camera operators: Iwo Jabłoński, Gloria Grunig; Light operator: Jan Zajączkowski; Sound operators: Damian Kruszewski, Kacper Słowik Dabravolskiy; Video operators: Adrien Cognac, Adam Kuznowicz, Paweł Banaszczyk; Production manager: Monika Balińska; Stage manager: Zuzanna Prusińska; Assistant Producer: Aleksandra Urban; Models and objects: Katarzyna Rytka; Stage design: Piotr Szczygielski; Costume creation: Aleksandra Andrychowicz; International distribution: Anna Lewanowicz; Cast: Dominika Biernat, Daniel Dobosz, Maja Pankiewicz, Sonia Roszczuk, Miron Smagała (video), Paweł Smagała, Rob Wasiewicz, Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik (guest, audio recordings).