Poster for the play ‘Life of Pi’

The play ‘Life of Pi,’ which drew attention as actor Park Jung-min’s comeback work, was abruptly canceled just before the performance began, an unprecedented situation.

According to the performing arts community on the 10th, the production, which was set to raise the curtain at 7:30 p.m. at Seoul’s GS Art Center, informed the audience of the cancellation at around 7:25 p.m., about five minutes before showtime.

Through a notice at the venue, the production company stated, “We will process refunds amounting to 110% of the payment for ticket holders,” and “We plan to send individual text notifications sequentially, and we once again bow our heads in apology to all audience members who came to see the performance.”

Despite the producer’s compensation policy announcement, on-site dissatisfaction did not subside easily. In particular, audience members who took leave from work or traveled to Seoul from across the country to see lead actor Park Jung-min pointed out that the cancellation came far too last-minute.

In fact, online communities and official social media (SNS) were flooded with critical reactions such as, “I traveled four hours round-trip, so what’s the point of compensation that adds a mere 10%?” and “They deceived the audience who waited, trusting only the actor.”

The play ‘Life of Pi’ depicts the ordeal of an Indian boy, Pi, who is shipwrecked in the middle of the Pacific and drifts for 227 days with a Bengal tiger, ‘Richard Parker,’ before being rescued. The day’s stage was to feature Park Jung-min, along with Hwang Man-ik, Joo Ah, and Jin Sang-hyun. In particular, this production had drawn significant attention as Park Jung-min’s return to the theater stage after eight years.