Korean Theatre Research Articles

The Problem of ‘Place’ and ‘Placeness’ in Site-Specific Theatre

Works that advocate site-specific theater are highly active in the recent Korean theater scene. Site-specific theater focuses on the historical, political and socio-cultural context of the location in which the performance is held and it shows interest in the ``now-present`` life that is conducted on a daily basis at the corresponding location, as well as issues on the features and identities of the community it is under. Therefore, site-specific theater sometimes shows socio-political criticism and participation, and sometimes act as critical commentary work for theaters in the existing system, while at other times, it is a formative experiment outside of the realm of traditional theatrical practices. But compared to such active practices, there is a relative lack of theoretical and critical work on site-specific theater. The reason why theoretical research is needed in Korea``s site-specific theater is because declarations by theater practitioners and producers or superficial newness alone cannot define it. This is because what may superficially look new may just be a rediscovery of forgotten theater or long traditions from a performing artist or theater history context. In particular, the challenge of performing arts against system and genre practices, socio-cultural criticism, political progressiveness, and dissolution of borders of life and theater that are represented in such work is similar to the 1960s theater experiments and particularly environmental theatre. Therefore, in order to accurately identify the meaning of site-specific theater, it is necessary to compare with environmental theatre and street theatre, which are previous works with similar mottos and formats. As site-specific theaters have been actively underway, there were also records and criticisms on individual theater. Critics first put attention on ``new expansion of space`` and ``active participation of audience`` among such work. But these are not features unique only to site-specific theater. What we must first pay attention to is not ``space`` but ``place`` that is the starting point of site-specific theater, and the meaning of ``placeness`` in performing arts. In site-specific theater, ``site`` is not just simply a space or environment. In site-specific theater, ``placeness``, or the uniqueness and exclusiveness of place and historical and social features of the site, are preemptive over all else and the contents and format of works also result from this. In site-specific theater, site is ``format`` and ``contents``, and the place itself is the ``storyteller``. Therefore, in order to properly understand the meaning of site-specific theater, which has rapidly been spreading in the performing arts world in the 21st century, we must examine the meaning of ``site`` in relation to medium-specificity of theater, which is both a site art and performing art. This study examines the meaning of site-specific theaters that have been performed recently in Korean theater focusing on issues of ``site`` and ``placeness``. For this, the concepts of ``space``, ``place`` and ``site`` must be arranged first. After examining the concepts discussed in a broad range in philosophical, sociological and geographic fields, their implications in the performing arts field will be examined. Also, the meaning of site-specificity in other art sectors will be summed up focusing on the arts sector that first practiced site-specific arts. Second, environmental theatre and street theatre that shows similar formative experiments with site-specific theater will be comparatively studied. Third, based on this, the question on what site is in today``s site-specific theater will be discussed focusing on Korea``s site-specific theater that has been showing progress through urban experience and personal experience projects. Through such studies, the features of site-specific theater that has becoming another trend in Korean theater in the 21st century, its contemporaneous meaning, and theater historical meaning will be put into order.

Reflection of post-modern theater and aesthetic horizon of Korean theater: “political writing”

Reflection of post-modern theater and aesthetic horizon of Korean theater: “political writing”

The Yard and Korean Shakespeare

Since the New Globe Theatre opened in 1996, they have used the yard as an acting area or entrances. Even though the authenticity of using the yard is disputable, nobody denies that the yard must be a very effective tool for performing Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre. The yard is an essential part of traditional Korean theatre, called “talchum (mask dance)” or “talnori (mask play).” The yard is its stage as well as the auditorium. Therefore, the players are surrounded by the audience, and the players can, and often do interact with the audience, speaking to the audience, or treating them as players, or acting as if they were some of the audience. The theatrical style of using the yard has much influenced the modern theatre of Korea. And many Korean directors including Oh Tae-suk, Yang Jung-ung, Sohn Jin-chaek, Park Sung-hwan, and myself, have applied the yard techniques to their Shakespearean productions. Korean Shakespearean productions, which use the yard actively, can be more evidence that the yard must be an effective tool for Shakespeare, not only at the Globe Theatre but also at any kind of theatres of today. No one knows whether Shakespeare actually used the yard or not. But the fact that many Shakespearean productions have used the yard successfully, implies that Shakespeare's texts themselves have enough room for the yard.

굿과 한국 셰익스피어

Korean theatre, which has produced more than 400 Shakespearean works during the last two decades, has been continuously trying to Koreanize Shakespeare in various ways. One of the most notable approaches of Koreanization mixes gut (Korean shamanic ritual) with Shakespeare. Applying gut to Shakespeare carries more meaning than Koreanizing Shakespeare externally because it steps beyond employing such traditional Korean theatre forms as ‘talchum’ (mask dance), ‘kkokdugaksi noreum’ (puppet theatre), ‘madangnori’ (yard play) to constitute cultural, philosophical, and religious codes in connection with shamanism. Gut also creates a specific theatrical style. There are two ways to incorporate gut into Shakespeare. One is to bring Shakespeare into gut, and the other is to bring gut into Shakespeare. The former performs gut as it already exits in a Shakespeare play, and the latter performs gut figuratively by fusing it into a Shakespeare play. Recently, two Shakespearean productions seem to typify these two trends: Yang Jung-ung’s Hamlet for the former and Oh Tae-suk’s The Tempest for the latter. Even though their approaches for gut are quite different, they have common points in using gut throughout the play and realizing the meanings and the functions of gut on the stage. Through a dramaturgical analysis of these two productions with focus on gut, this article examines the significance and role, and the possibilities of gut in Koreanizing Shakespeare.

Yeonwoo Mudae and the Korean Theatre Movement in the 1980s

Yeonwoo Mudae is an exemplary theatre company of Korean theatre of the 1980s. It focused on newly created pieces ( changjak-geuk ) to provide a critical and historical understanding of contemporary Korean politics and culture. Using Brechean epic theatre, elements of madang-geuk (outdoor, episodic performances colored by traditional Korean theatre aesthetics), and local literature or history as its source, the company transitioned from a student workshop with no space of its own to a group with a permanent little theatre-style space in first the Shinchon area and then the Daehakro theatre district. Its exemplary productions both reflected and spurred the movement toward democratization and freedom of speech in the fraught political environment of a country repressed by the military-led government of President Chun Doo-Hwan.

Suzuki Tadashi's Intercultural Progress in South Korea

This article examines Suzuki Tadashi's intercultural progress in South Korea focusing on his production of Electra (2008) with a Korean cast. This production led Suzuki to build his satisfying network with Korean performers and propel his active participation in Korean theatre festivals as a director as well as a festival organizer. This article aims to provide a new approach to understand Suzuki's interculturalism within East Asia.

원로배우 김길호에 대한 기록 작업 - 남도(南道)목포연극 활동을 중심으로

공연예술계의 원로배우에 대한 기록과 보존의 과정은 여타 다른 예술장르보다 까다롭고 난해하여 원형 그대로의 형태로 유지한다는 것은 불가능하다. 그럼에도 불구하고 생존하고 있는 원로배우를 대상으로 기록화 하는 작업에 대한 연구 필요성과 역사적 의미는 매우 중요하다. 한국연극사의 다양한 시도와 발전은 열악한 환경 속에서도 현장을 지킨 공연예술인들의 부단한 노력에 의해 활발히 진행되어 왔다. 하지만 공연예술계의 예술인들의 대한 기록사업의 기록과 보존에 대한 인식이 뒤늦게 이뤄져 한국 근현대 예술사를 빛낸 원로배우들의 소중한 자산들이 손. 망실 되어가고 있는 것은 안타까운 일이 아닐 수 없다. 이에 본 연구는 배우, 작가, 연출가 등으로 활동을 한 원로배우 김길호(金吉浩)의 일생 중 남도(南道) 목포연극을 중심으로 그의 활동과 생애를 탐색하고 원로배우 유산 기록화 하는 작업의 의미를 되새기고자한다. It is almost impossible to keep the exact documentations of veterans' works due to the fastidious and convoluted nature of this particular field. The histrorical recordings of Korean Theater in general has been improved due to growing educations of staffs and actors through theatre associated universities But the need of preserving the recordings of veteran actors has not been recognized enough, therefore their precious assets has been lost, which is such a regretful truth. However, with the necessity in mind, the following study is focused on Gil-ho Kim, an actor, playwright, director, and his works on 'Namdo-Mokpo-Plays'. Comparisons will be made, focusing on these plays, between his life as an actor and the meaning of documenting a veteran actor's assets.

Dramatug’s role and its position of the Korean theater

Dramatug’s role and its position of the Korean theater

한국의 배우 - 백성희 연구 여자, 배우, 예술가

This study started from the project that make the record of legendary actor`s heritage in Korea. This research was focused on Sung Hee Beck`s artistic footprint which was almost same steps as the Korean modern play of the centennial theater history by reviewing her; domestic royal actor; acting techniques which learn from real acting field by herself and her career. Her life shows constant resistance for the social negative reputation of the acting field, and her frantic effort to Korean play and actor`s phase. Above all, this passionate actor`s life contributes to society, and improve the Korean theater through 70 year`s her experiences with countless roles in around 400 performances and her own valuable acting techniques. To look up legendary actress of our time, Sung Hee Beak`s life gives us a chance to reflect art of acting which emphasizes its fundamental.

A Study on The History Books of Korean Theatre by Yoo Minyoung

A Study on The History Books of Korean Theatre by Yoo Minyoung

A Study on The History of Jeonwimudae, Korean Theater Company in Busan

A Study on The History of Jeonwimudae, Korean Theater Company in Busan

The New Millennium Shakespeare in Korea

Korean theatre has been experiencing the unprecedented Shakespeare boom since 1990. During the last two decades, 411 Shakespeare productions were performed in Korea; 38 foreign Shakespeare productions met Korean audience, and 373 Korean Shakespeare productions were produced. Furthermore, many Shakespearean productions including Oh Tae-suk’s Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Lee Youn-taek’s Hamlet, Yang Jung-ung’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Han Tae-suk’s Lady Macbeth, Won Young-oh’s Hamlet from the East, and Kim Myeong-kon’s King Uru, Kim Nak-hyoeng’s Macbeth, which recorded significant successes at home, were invited abroad and received very positive responses from the audience as well as the critics, and were given many awards in various kinds of international theatre festivals. Korean Shakespeare can be truly said to meet Renaissance in the New Millennium. This paper presents the Korean Shakespeare production list from 1990 to 2011, which records production titles, theatre companies’ and directors’ names, and the performance styles. Also, it defines the characteristics of the Korean Shakespeare productions during the last two decades as four elements such as populism, feminism, shamanism, and traditional Koran theatre style.

A Mad Mother and Her Dead Son: The Impact of the Irish Theatre on Modern Korean Theatre

During the colonial period (1910–1945), Korean intellectuals introduced Irish artists and their works to the public through newspapers and magazines. Because of the political similarity between Ireland and Korea at that time, these intellectuals considered Ireland as an ideal to emulate. The impact of the Irish dramatic movement on modern Korean theatre was significant, in that it provided a direction for Korean intellectuals involved in establishing modern theatre. One of the most famous modern Korean plays from this period, Yu Ch’ijin’s A Mud Hut was indirectly influenced by Irish playwright Sean O’Casey whose trilogy is based on Dublin’s working class. The work of another Korean playwright, Ham Sedŏk’s Sanhuguri, was indebted to the works of J.M. Synge, whose plays deal with Irish peasants. In their plays, Yu Ch’ijin and Ham Sedŏk depict the miserable lives of some common Korean people as realistically as they can, by imitating the writings of Sean O’Casey and J.M. Synge. The main motif that appears in their works is that of a mad mother and her dead son. In Yu Ch’ijin’s play, this motif is represented by the land as an absent space. In Ham Sedŏk’s play, it is illustrated by the sea as an absolute space of fate. The mother figure in both plays is presented as a languid, defeatist and self-pitying figure who is confronted by the colonial reality represented by her dead son. Through these images, the future is portrayed as hopeless. This paper attempts to shed a light on a particular strand of modern Korean plays and their emergence under the influence of Irish theatre in the early twentieth century.

Research History of North Korean Theater from the Viewpoint of the Unification Policy in Stages

Research History of North Korean Theater from the Viewpoint of the Unification Policy in Stages

효과기반 작전 방법론을 적용한 V-C 연동체계에서 전투효과 분석방법 연구

The principle of Effective Based Operation applied to the Korean Theater resulted in measurable effects to win the minimum battle. Based on the finding, this study recommends the effect analysis methodology under the V-C interoperability system to acquire a weapon system. This method is followed as below; to confirm the effect data on the organized weapon system, to set MOE, MOP and effect considering the purpose of the analysis, to apply the appropriate operational concept and scenario on the weapon system, and then the available C Model is after action reviewed, adjusted, and given feedback. The V-C interoperability system enables to perform the real-time combat experiment under the virtual synthesized battlefield circumstances. The defensive battle organization and displacement of the future anti-tank guided weapon system was considered in the modeling process. Scenario was written, which encompasses company-level units and the battalion-level operation. Then the available AWAM was embodied and effect-analyzed, which formed the foundation of SBA.

“Broadway” as the Superior “Other”: Situating South Korean Theater in the Era of Globalization

“Broadway” as the Superior “Other”: Situating South Korean Theater in the Era of Globalization

The Quest of Family-Plot in Korean Theatre of 2000s and Family-Identification ­Focused on the Performative Process of Making Familienbühne

The Quest of Family-Plot in Korean Theatre of 2000s and Family-Identification ­Focused on the Performative Process of Making Familienbühne

International Co-Productions in Korean Theatre -With Focuses on the Principal Co-Productions & Collaborations Since the 1990s-

International Co-Productions in Korean Theatre -With Focuses on the Principal Co-Productions & Collaborations Since the 1990s-

Hamlet as an epic 5ㆍ18 and Ki Kukseo's position in Korean theatre history -focused on Ki Kukseo's Hamlet series-

Hamlet as an epic 5ㆍ18 and Ki Kukseo's position in Korean theatre history -focused on Ki Kukseo's Hamlet series-

Remapping the Korean Theatre Tradition: A Case Study of Gwolhui, a Theatre of the Confucian Students in the Chosun Dynasty

Traditional theatre scholarship maintains that Chosun-era Korean theatrical forms are rooted deep in the collectivity of the minjung —the economically, socially, and politically deprived—and are essentially minjung theatricalities. While the forms performed and viewed by commoners, such as talchum (mask dance), pansori (epic song performance), geurimja-geuk (shadow drama), and inhyeong-geuk (puppet show), are well researched, theatres of the privileged class or yangban have been obscured and consequently ignored by Korean theatre scholars. Gwolhui (moot royal court play), performed by the Confucian students of the Sungkyunkwan, the national university of the Chosun dynasty, offers evidence of a theatre of the privileged class. Gwolhui shares characteristics found in minjung theatre—collective participation, episodic structure, and bottom-up satire of the society. It is the yangban counterpart to the minjung theatrical forms and, therefore, should be considered part of the Korean theatre tradition.