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During a theatrical adaptation of Wife, Girls' Generation's Sooyoung was unlawfully captured on camera while she was changing, a statement by production house Glim Company announced on January 7, 2024. The play, Wife, is currently being showcased at Seoul's Gangseo-gu LG Arts Centre. The performances began from December 26, 2023, and is scheduled to run till February 8, 2024.
In light of the recent incident, the company has now promised to increase surveillance and security across the audience.
On January 8, South Korean media outlet SPOTV News reported that a blind spot in the surveillance cameras prevented them from apprehending the culprit. Therefore, in order to prevent a recurrence, the production house will ensure to expand their roster of security personnel monitoring the audience during the show.
"We will also take measures": The production house of Sooyoung's play, Wife, issues statement
As reported by SPOTV News, on January 7, Wife's production company, Glim Company, announced via its official social media account that there have been several violations due to illegal recordings during their recent shows. The violations include copyright violations, disruptions of the performance, and blocking of other spectators' views.
According to SPOTV News, their statement read as follows:
"Due to illegal filming during recent performances, there have been cases of copyright infringement of the performance, disruption of the performance, and obstruction of other audience members' viewing. As a result, the team and LG Arts Center Seoul decided to proceed with stronger house operations than before to prevent the same thing from happening in the future.”
The company further continued:
"Filming and recording are illegal acts that infringe on the copyright and publicity rights of performances under relevant laws. If discovered, filming equipment and memory cards will be confiscated and you will be asked to leave. In the case of illegal recordings, we will respond in accordance with relevant laws."
Additionally, Glim Company stated that due to the camera blind spots, they were unable to identify the crowds taking illicit photos of Sooyoung. As per AllKPop, one male member from the audience was reportedly spotted taking photographs (with their DSLR) of Sooyoung during a scene when her character changes on stage. Others soon followed suit.
Furthermore, to keep this problem from occurring again, they announced plans to increase staff members. Additionally, they pledged to take appropriate action to alert viewers—including those who are not from abroad—to the fact that taking pictures and videos is not permitted.
As per AllKPop, the company's statement also noted:
"We were not able to spot the audiences taking illegal photographs as they were sitting in blind spots. We will supplement this production with additional personnel to prevent the issue from happening again. We will also take measures to properly warn audiences, including foreigners, that filming and photography is prohibited."
As reported by Koreaboo, a netizen mentioned on a Korean online forum that there were no officials who tried to restrain the person with the camera. The netizen continued that the rude spectator shot pictures of Sooyoung with a big Cannon camera at rapid speed.
This led some other viewers from the audience to assume that taking pictures during the play was allowed. Soon after, other users objected and started clicking pictures with their phones. The netizen said,
"The play was in progress, and during the scene where Daisy (Sooyoung’s character) was changing on the right side of the stage, the viewer took out their large camera and took pictures like crazy. They only took pictures of her. It felt like it was at least dozens if not a hundred photos. No one stopped them while they were taking photos like that either. You could hear the shutter sound around the entire theatre."
Wife, a play that stars Girls' Generation's Sooyoung, is presently being performed in Seoul's Gangseo-gu LG Arts Centre. The theatrical play tells the tales of four generations of women from 1959 to 2046. It depicts the journey and experiences of the various characters, which include a queer couple.
