Jinyeob Lee's 'Muljil' immerses performers in water at Avignon Festival

At the 2026 Festival d'Avignon, South Korean director Jinyeob Lee presented 'Muljil', a performance where four actors are submerged in glass columns of water for an hour, inspired by the haenyeo free-diving women of Jeju Island. The characters represent a worker, a pregnant woman, a queer person, and a woman seeking transformation, symbolizing societal pressures. The piece culminates with audience members joining the performers in a water basin. Lee founded the collective Elephants Laugh in 2009 and began as a scenographer, aiming to make theater accessible to disengaged audiences. The festival featured Korean works as guest language, including 'Cuckoo' and 'Island Story'.