The Seoul International Theatre Festival and Forum, 1988

Abstract

As part of Korea's Olympic Arts Festival, an International Theatre Festival and Forum was held in Seoul between 16 August and 2 October, 1988. The Festival hosted theatre troupes from Czechoslovakia, Poland, Brazil, Greece, France, and Japan, as well as thirteen troupes from the Republic of Korea. Given Korea's political stance in recent years, it is significant that Polish and Czech troupes were invited, and even more significant that their performances, though not ideological, were open to the public. The Czech piece, Crash, performed by the Crazy Mime Company, dealt with events in a hospital ward following an auto accident. Its ensemble acting was impressive. The Polish Awakum, offered by the Gardzienice Theatre Association (which also performed at the New York Art Festival last May), was a religious play which created a ritual atmosphere through the use of candlelight and choral singing. The Grupo de Teatro Macunaima's Xica da Silva, the Brazilian offering at the festival, employed brilliant costumes, no scenery, a rapid pace, and stylized acting. The play was written to celebrate the centennial of slave emancipation in Brazil. This group also attended the Toga International Theatre Festival in Japan after the Seoul festival. The Greek National Theatre's production of Oedipus Rex blended classical and modern elements. Employing the play-within-a-play technique, it used two additional Oedipus characters who watched Oedipus' fate as it unfolded. One of these watchers was a Korean actor who spoke the final lines of the play in Korean, thereby emphasizing the theme of the play for the largely Korean audience. France's Comedie FranCaise presented Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme using Korean supertitles. Unfortunately,