Probationary Theatre Company will be performing “Race” by David Mamet starting this weekend, touching on a controversial subject for its final Seoul performance.

The play, described by Mamet as being about the lies we tell ourselves about race, portrays the debate had at a law firm about whether to take on the case of a white man accused of raping a black woman.

Director Liam Mitchinson said that he loved Mamet’s natural-sounding dialogue and willingness to challenge his audience.

“In the ’80s, (Mamet’s) ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ was very controversial for being so abrasive and so rude. It was laden with offensive language,” he said.

“In some ways ‘Race’ is similar to that, although it’s not cursing. It’s more along the lines of the characters telling a lot of home truths about race that people tend to brush under the carpet.”

If this sounds like heavy stuff, you may be surprised, as Mitchinson was, at the comedic approach he saw in the Broadway production.

“I found it quite strange, because I always read it as such a hard-hitting drama and when I watched the clips, the audience was laughing all the time,” he said, adding that he was intending to take quite a different approach. “There are moments of humor in the script, but to me it’s a legal drama about these men deciding whether they are going to take on this rape case.”

The play has been praised for its humor and other productions have played up the comedy, but Mitchinson said that this could result in hiding behind the humor, and hence ducking away from delivering the play’s central message.

“If (a character) is going to come out and say his view on the black-white race issues in America, then the easiest thing to do is to turn it into a joke, to ham it up and hide that and to show to the audience, ‘Hey, I’m only joking,’” he said.

He said he thought the play would empower some people and upset others, but that the racial tension between the attorneys was something he wanted to get the audience thinking about.

“The racial makeup of the law firm ends up deciding for them, rather than proper legal practice or whatever their prejudices may be,” he said. “And in the end my goal is to get the audience leaving the theater questioning why these things happen.”

The show will be the last production by Probationary Theatre, as the founders, Mitchinson and Desiree Munro, head back to work in Australian theater next year.

Tickets are 15,000 won and the show runs from Friday until Dec. 1, with shows at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 4 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, visit www.probationarytheatre.com.

By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)