Transgender performer's 50 years on nightclub stages come to life in play

A one-person play about 69-year-old transgender performer Saek-ja’s five decades singing and dancing on nightclub stages will be presented at the Seoul Performing Arts Festival in Seoul on Oct. 15 and 16. Titled “You Can't Make a Life Out of Not Getting Slapped in the Face,” the play recounts her experiences of discrimination, arrest and gender-affirming surgery. Saek-ja performs her own story, while director Khoo Ja-hye examines representation and the limits of portraying one person’s life.

The play was first presented at the Feminism Theater Festival in 2024 by Khoo Ja-hye and her company, Theatre, Definitely.

Saek-ja was arrested for public indecency after wearing makeup and selling alcohol, and she nearly died while confined in a police transport van during a hot summer day.

Saek-ja still uses an identification card bearing her legal name, Yeom Gyu-sik, and said changing her resident registration number would not mean she was truly living as a woman.

Saek-ja recently ended her 50-year nightclub career and plans to expand into theater and film while starting a YouTube channel.

Published Oct 11, 2026 12:00 am KST

Saek-ja, left, the star of “You Can't Make a Life Out of Not Getting Slapped in the Face," and director Khoo Ja-hye / Courtesy of Seoul Performing Arts Festival

Korean society in the 1970s and 1980s was rife with violence and control masked as institutions and social order. At 16, the world saw her as a boy, but she already knew who she was. At a time when even the term “transgender” did not exist in common parlance, she performed on nightclub stages, singing and dancing in heavy makeup. She even underwent a risky, illicit gender-affirming surgery under only local anesthesia in a motel room. Her life was likely a relentless succession of discrimination and anger, difficult to imagine today. Yet even amid the violence and suffering that were commonplace at the time, she never lost faith in her choices.

A one-person play portraying the fearless life of 69-year-old transgender performer Saek-ja, who spent five decades singing and dancing on nightclub stages, will meet audiences at the Seoul Performing Arts Festival (SPAF) on Oct. 15 and 16 at the small venue of Arko Arts Theater in Jongno District, Seoul.

Saek-ja, the star of “You Can't Make a Life Out of Not Getting Slapped in the Face" / Courtesy of Seoul Performing Arts Festival

Titled “You Can't Make a Life Out of Not Getting Slapped in the Face," the play was first presented at the Feminism Theater Festival in 2024 by Khoo Ja-hye, 44, a playwright and director with the theater company "Theatre, Definitely." Saek-ja herself takes the stage and recounts her life with a lively, candid storytelling style. The Hankook Ilbo met the two women on Sept. 30 at the Korea Arts Management Service in Jongno District.

The two first met in 2021 when Khoo directed Saek-ja in “Drag X Male Impersonator,” a play featuring a diverse range of queer characters. Their relationship did not get off to a smooth start. Saek-ja was disappointed that she received little direction compared with the other cast members. Khoo’s response was, “You’re so good that there’s nothing for you to practice.”

Later, Khoo texted Saek-ja saying she had “written something” and sent her the title. The title of the current play was taken from a line in an earlier work about queer teenagers. It conveys the idea that a reduction in physical violence does not necessarily mean that society has created the conditions for people to be fully recognized and accepted as they are. “I burst into tears because the title fit me perfectly,” Saek-ja recalled.

Although she describes herself as someone who has “always been confident,” memories of discrimination remain vivid. Saek-ja, who had been recounting her past in her boisterous manner, peppering her speech with colorful language, became tearful when recalling the time she was arrested for “public indecency” and nearly died after being confined in a police transport van on a sweltering summer day. Her offense was being a man who wore makeup and sold alcohol.

Saek-ja still uses an identification card bearing her legal name, Yeom Gyu-sik. “Changing my resident registration number wouldn’t mean I’d really be living as a woman, and even though there are more people who accept me, this still isn’t an ordinary life,” she said.

Director Khoo Ja-hye of “You Can't Make a Life Out of Not Getting Slapped in the Face" / Courtesy of Seoul Performing Arts Festival

Bringing Saek-ja’s life to the stage also brought major changes to Khoo as a director. For more than a decade, Khoo had viewed theater as a medium of resistance against discrimination and exclusion. But just as she began to feel that this perspective was becoming a fixed artistic framework, she met Saek-ja.

She described the encounter as becoming “the driving force of my life” and said, “My perspective as a director has changed a lot.”

“At the moment you put someone’s life onstage in the name of art or directing, objectification comes into play,” Khoo said. “Being overly cautious because it is a life you haven’t experienced can itself become a form of othering.”

Ultimately, she found the key to the work in Saek-ja’s personality — someone with an instinct for the stage who reveals her life without waiting for anyone to ask.

There was also the question of representation involved in putting Saek-ja’s life onstage. While Saek-ja cannot represent all transgender people, she inevitably takes on that role the moment she steps onto the stage.

“Saek-ja cannot help but carry that representation, but at the same time she shouldn’t have to,” Khoo said. “Walking that tightrope made me feel the existence of people outside the theater much more vividly.”

It was, she said, a process of recognizing that while the play presents one person’s life, there are also lives that cannot be explained through that one person.

Saek-ja likewise rejects being described as a “first-generation transgender person,” saying, “I left home when I was young, but there were already older people who came before me.”

Just as working with Saek-ja marked a turning point in Khoo’s own development as an artist, the director said many audience members have drawn strength from the performance.

She recalled cases in which young audience members struggling with their identities saw themselves in Saek-ja and came to a new understanding of who they were.

“Theater is important as a way of enjoying culture and the arts, but there are also cases where simply having a particular person stand onstage can give someone strength,” Khoo said.

A scene from the play “You Can't Make a Life Out of Not Getting Slapped in the Face" / Courtesy of Seoul Performing Arts Festival

Saek-ja recently brought her 50-year career on nightclub stages to an end and is expanding into theater and film. She also plans to start a YouTube channel.

Asked what she would say to her 16-year-old self, she said, “You were wonderful. You were brave.”

But she especially wanted to leave a message for young people struggling with their gender identity: “We are not sinners. Find the courage to come out into the world. There are so many people waiting for you.”

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI system and edited by The Korea Times.

一部讲述69岁跨性别表演者Saek-ja五十年来在夜总会​​舞台上载歌载舞的独角戏将于10月15日和16日在首尔表演艺术节上演。该剧名为《不被人扇耳光，人生就无法完整》，讲述了她遭受歧视、被捕以及接受性别确认手术的经历。Saek-ja将亲自演绎自己的故事，而导演Khoo Ja-hye则探讨了人物形象的呈现方式以及展现个人生活的局限性。

该剧由邱慈惠和她的剧团“Theatre, Definitely”于 2024 年在女权主义戏剧节上首次演出。

Saek-ja因化妆卖酒而被控公共场合行为不检，在炎热的夏日被关押在警车里时险些丧命。

Saek-ja 仍然使用印有她法定姓名 Yeom Gyu-sik 的身份证，并表示更改居民登记号码并不意味着她真的以女性身份生活。

Saek-ja 最近结束了她长达 50 年的夜总会生涯，并计划进军戏剧和电影界，同时开通一个 YouTube 频道。

发布于2026年10月11日凌晨12:00（韩国标准时间）

左图为《不被扇耳光就活不下去》主演石子，右图为导演邱在惠 / 图片由首尔表演艺术节提供

20世纪70年代和80年代的韩国社会充斥着暴力和控制，而这些暴力和控制却伪装成制度和社会秩序。16岁时，世人视她为男孩，但她早已清楚自己的身份。在“跨性别者”一词尚未普及的年代，她浓妆艳抹地在夜总会的舞台上唱歌跳舞。她甚至在一家汽车旅馆的房间里，仅凭局部麻醉就接受了一次风险极高的非法变性手术。她的一生很可能充满了无情的歧视和愤怒，这在今天看来难以想象。然而，即便身处那个暴力和苦难司空见惯的年代，她也从未动摇过对自己选择的信念。

一部讲述 69 岁变性表演者 Saek-ja 无畏人生的独角戏将于 10 月 15 日和 16 日在首尔钟路区 Arko 艺术剧场的小剧场举行的首尔表演艺术节 (SPAF) 上与观众见面。Saek-ja 在夜总会舞台上唱歌跳舞长达五十年。

《不被扇耳光就活不下去》的主演雪子 / 图片由首尔表演艺术节提供

这部名为《不被人扇耳光，人生就无法圆满》的戏剧由44岁的剧作家兼导演邱在惠（Khoo Ja-hye）创作，她隶属于“剧场，绝对”（Theatre, Definitely）剧团，该剧于2024年在女性主义戏剧节上首次亮相。剧中人物雪子（Saek-ja）本人也登台演出，以生动坦诚的叙事风格讲述了自己的人生故事。《韩国日报》于9月30日在钟路区的韩国艺术管理服务中心采访了这两位女性。

两人于2021年相识，当时邱导演执导了话剧《变装男扮女装》，该剧汇集了形形色色的酷儿角色，而雪子正是该剧的主演之一。他们的关系一开始并不顺利。雪子对与其他演员相比得到的指导较少感到失望。邱导演回应道：“你演技太好了，根本不需要练习。”

后来，邱女士发短信告诉雪子，她“写了点东西”，并把剧名发给了她。这部剧的剧名取自她之前一部关于酷儿青少年的作品中的一句台词。它传达的理念是，减少肢体暴力并不一定意味着社会已经创造了让人们被充分认可和接纳的条件。“我当时就泪流满面，因为这个剧名简直太贴切了，”雪子回忆道。

尽管她自称“一直都很自信”，但歧视的记忆依然历历在目。谢子用她一贯活泼的语气讲述着自己的往事，言辞间不乏生动的词汇。当她回忆起自己因“行为不检”被捕，并在一个酷热的夏日被关进警车，险些丧命的经历时，她不禁潸然泪下。而她所谓的“罪名”仅仅是身为一个化妆且贩卖酒水的男人。

雪子仍然使用印有她法定姓名廉圭植的身份证。“更改居民登记号码并不意味着我就能真正以女性身份生活，即使现在接受我的人更多了，但这仍然不是普通人的生活，”她说。

导演邱在惠（作品《不被扇耳光是人生的代价》）/ 图片由首尔表演艺术节提供

将雪子（Saek-ja）的人生搬上舞台，也给导演邱（Khoo）带来了重大转变。十多年来，邱一直将戏剧视为反抗歧视和排斥的媒介。但正当她开始觉得这种观点正逐渐成为一种固定的艺术框架时，她遇到了雪子。

她形容这次相遇成为了“我人生的驱动力”，并表示：“我作为导演的视角发生了很大的变化。”

“当你以艺术或导演的名义将某人的生活搬上舞台时，物化就产生了，”邱说。“因为这是你自己没有经历过的生活而过度谨慎，这本身也可能成为一种排斥。”

最终，她发现理解这部作品的关键在于雪子的个性——她对舞台有着敏锐的直觉，并且无需别人询问就会展现自己的生活。

将Saek-ja的人生搬上舞台，也涉及到代表性的问题。虽然Saek-ja无法代表所有跨性别者，但她一旦踏上舞台，就不可避免地承担起了这一角色。

“雪子这个角色无法避免地承载着这种象征意义，但同时她也不应该被迫承担这种意义，”邱女士说。“这种游走在钢丝上的感觉让我更加真切地感受到剧院外人们的存在。”

她说，这是一个认识到虽然这部剧展现的是一个人的生活，但也有一些生活无法通过这个人来解释的过程。

Saek-ja 也拒绝被描述为“第一代跨性别者”，她说：“我年轻时就离开了家，但在我之前已经有年纪更大的人离开了家。”

正如与Saek-ja的合作标志着Khoo作为艺术家的成长转折点一样，导演表示，许多观众也从这场演出中汲取了力量。

她回忆起一些年轻观众在身份认同方面遇到困难，他们在雪子身上看到了自己的影子，并对自己有了新的认识。

“戏剧作为一种享受文化和艺术的方式固然重要，但有时仅仅是让某个人站在舞台上就能给人带来力量，”邱说。

话剧《不被扇耳光就无法成就人生》剧照 / 图片由首尔表演艺术节提供

雪子最近结束了她长达50年的夜总会舞台生涯，并开始进军戏剧和电影界。她还计划开设一个YouTube频道。

当被问及她想对16岁的自己说些什么时，她说：“你很棒，你很勇敢。”

但她尤其想给那些在性别认同上挣扎的年轻人留下一句话：“我们不是罪人。鼓起勇气走向世界吧。有很多人都在等着你。”

本文来自《韩国日报》（《韩国时报》的姊妹报），由人工智能生成系统翻译，并由《韩国时报》编辑。