Kim Jiyoung, born 1982

What’s going on with Kim Jiyoung? The early thirtysomething who lives with her husband and child on the outskirts of the mega-city of Seoul, is acting out politically. She imitates the females around, brazenly casts off her role as considerate housewife and mother, and snubs her relatives. Therapy is supposed to help »fix« Kim Jiyoung. Yet a glance at her biography reveals much more than an individual fate. Raised as a girl to restrain herself and to »smile away« both indignities and encroachments, Kim Jiyoung is constantly encountering barriers – with her family, her studies, professionally, and even as a mother.

Author Cho Nam-Joo soberly and vividly depicts a painfully normal woman’s life. Her book, which became an international bestseller, jolted Korean society, sparking heated debate and protest.

With a German-Korean cast and team, director Marie Schleef is bringing the German-language premiere of KIM JIYOUNG, BORN 1982 to the Depot 2 stage. With her visually powerful works, the director’s devotion to female biographies continues as she lends centrality to stories that long had no place in the conventional canon.