Groups from seven foreign countries will join this year’s 17th Suwon Hwaseong Fortress Theatre Festival, which will be held from May 24-28.

This year’s festival at the UNESCO World Heritage site is scheduled to feature performance art works from Spain, Australia, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Taiwan and Belgium.

Since last year, the festival has invited local citizens to play various roles in different programs. And this year a group of amateur citizens will perform a dance musical featuring Edith Piaf’s 1950 song, “Hymne A L’amour (Song of Love),” at the main stage on opening night.

Throughout the festival, nine amateur citizens’ theater clubs are scheduled to perform various genres of performance art, such as dance musical, puppet theater and madanggeuk, which is a Korean mask dance drama.

Meanwhile, a Spanish performance art group, Xarxa Theatre which was originally scheduled to present its signature firework performance, “Nit Magica (One Magical Night)” on opening night and “El Foc Del Mar (Sea Fire)” for the closing ceremony on May 28 may not be performing at the festival due to fire safety concerns.

As the firework performances were to take place in close proximity to Suwon Hwaseong Fortress, a designated historic site, the local police have not issued the requisite permission to use fireworks during the event.

“Since the permit for use of fireworks has not been issued, it is possible that we may not be able to see the splendid performance of Xarxa Theatre,” said a Suwon Cultural Foundation’s Festival Planning Bureau official.

Outdoor theater performances at the festival are free of charge while tickets to the KBS Suwon Art Hall programs cost 20,000 won.

For more information, call (031) 290-3563. Tickets are available at www.ticket.interpark.com and www.ticket.auction.co.kr.

By Kwon Bum-joon (bjkwon@heraldcorp.com)