This weekend, audiences at SFAC Theater Quad in Seoul's Daehangno district will participate in a groundbreaking theatrical experience that blends gaming with live performance. 'asses.masses,' a seven-and-a-half-hour interactive video game told across 10 episodes, invites theater-goers to collectively control a single game controller while following the story of donkeys who have lost their jobs to machines and are fighting to reclaim their livelihoods.
Created by Patrick Blenkharn and Milton Lim, this unique production premiered in Argentina in 2023 and has since toured internationally. The Seoul run represents the show's Asian premiere as part of the 2025 Seoul Performing Arts Festival, with future stops planned for Sydney, Los Angeles, and Boston next year. The performance is designed to be experienced from beginning to end in a live theater setting, with four intermissions during which food is served to participants.
The co-creators describe their work as both entertainment and a space for philosophical and political discussions where strangers can become friends. 'We should say that it doesn't feel as long as it sounds. It really doesn't. Time flies when you're having fun, and it really is true,' Blenkharn explained. He drew parallels to modern entertainment consumption habits, asking, 'We talked a lot about how it's very normal for us to binge-watch TV shows and how most video games take many, many hours. Then why not theater?'
The show evolved from a much shorter prototype as the creators realized their story required more time to develop meaningful character relationships and emotional connections with the audience. 'And at the same time, we realized that the more time you spend playing video games with your friends the better friends you become,' Lim noted. With just one controller shared among all participants, the game shifts between various genres including 2D and 3D RPGs, side-scrollers, stealth missions, rhythm games, and old-school platformers reminiscent of Super Mario.
Beyond its playful surface, 'asses.masses' serves as a pointed allegory about labor and democracy in the modern world. As audience members negotiate who plays, who leads, and who steps down to let others take control, a living conversation about leadership and democratic participation emerges. The choice of donkeys as protagonists carries deep symbolic meaning, as Blenkharn explained: 'Donkeys had a very integral position within the history of building civilizations over the last thousands years. We were interested in the question of where and how a donkey does work today and how they have largely been pushed outside of cities.'
The timing of these themes feels particularly relevant in today's technological landscape. 'We should say that a lot of these questions feel very potent right now. Being replaced by machines and technologies are very old stories,' Lim added. The show's format, which features no traditional performers but delegates the labor of performance to the audience, intentionally mirrors contemporary concerns about job displacement and technological replacement.
This design creates a meta-commentary on the very issues the game explores, as Lim explained: 'This designed format intersects with the participants' understanding of the things happening outside of the cinema, of jobs being at risk or replaced.' The experience prompts audiences to consider fundamental questions: 'Which jobs should be replaced, which ones shouldn't be replaced, how does everyone feel about it, how do we all survive together and how do we negotiate all of these changes as we go on?'
The creators have observed that audience dynamics often mirror real-world politics across different cultural contexts. 'Sometimes we have great leaders for two or three episodes, and then maybe not-so-great ones,' Blenkharn noted. 'Maybe they don't listen, or maybe they're just really bad at the game. Or they're great at the game but not great listeners. Either way, it all moves the story forward.' Despite cultural differences across international tour stops, the creators have found more similarities than differences in how people respond to the collaborative gaming experience.
Lim expressed particular curiosity about Korean audiences, drawing on his gaming experience: 'Every time I've played a massive multiplayer online game, the Korean servers are the most serious, intense and skilled. Korean e-Sports has really blossomed and it's really taken seriously on a global level, like, everyone understands Korean e-sports are the strongest.' Blenkharn added historical context, noting that 'Korea has, in recent decades, been a leader in peaceful revolution and protest, demonstrating ways to the world the other ways of voicing dissent.'
The creators hope audiences will approach the experience with openness and flexibility regarding traditional boundaries between theater and gaming. 'Its not just a game, and not just theater,' Lim concluded. 'The most rewarding moments for us have been when audiences come in open to discovering the possibilities of that space in between.' They encourage participants to come ready to play, laugh, listen, and engage without heavy expectations about what constitutes theater or video games.
