Virginia Commonwealth University VCU Scholars Compass Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2009 COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE RITUAL ASPECTS OF WESTERN AND ASIAN PERFORMANCE Hyung Don Lee Virginia Commonwealth University Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd Part of the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons © The Author Downloaded from https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/1703 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at VCU Scholars Compass. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of VCU Scholars Compass. For more information, please contact [email protected]. School of the Arts of Virginia Commonwealth University This is to certify that the thesis prepared by Hyung Don Lee entitled COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE RITUAL ASPECTS OF WESTERN AND ASIAN PERFORMANCE has been approved by his committee as satisfactory completion of the thesis requirement for the degree of Master of Fine Arts. Dr. Noreen C. Barnes, Department of Theatre Dr. Aaron Anderson, Department of Theatre Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, Department of Theatre Dr. Noreen C. Barnes, Director of Graduate Studies David Leong, Chairman of Department of Theatre Dr. Richard Toscan, Dean of School of the Arts Dr. F. Douglas Boudinot, Dean of the Graduate School Date © Hyung Don Lee 2009 All Rights Reserved COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE RITUAL ASPECTS OF WESTERN AND ASIAN PERFORMANCE A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. by HYUNG DON LEE Master of Arts, Dongguk University, 2004 Bachelor of Arts, Hannam University, 1999 KOREA Director: DR. NOREEN C. BARNES DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES, DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE Virginia Commonwealth University Richmond, Virginia May 2009 Acknowledgement I would like to thank my mother, Park Sun, and my family for their continuous support through this journey. I would also like to thank Dr. Noreen C. Barnes, Dr. Aaron Anderson, Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates, and the rest of faculty of VCU Theatre. ii Table of Contents Page Acknowledgements............................................................................................................. ii List of Tables .................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................ ….v Chapter 1 Introduction....................................................................................................... 1 2 What is Ritual?.................................................................................................. 5 3 Ritual characteristics in Asian Performance ................................................... 15 4 Ritual characteristics in Western Performance ............................................... 27 5 What would be the future of ritual in Performance?....................................... 50 6 Conclusion ...................................................................................................... 57 List of References ............................................................................................................. 60 iii List of Table Table 1: Efficacy vs. Entertainment (Schechner, Performance Theory, 2003). ................. 9 iv List of Figures Page Figure 1: Wayang kulit (http:// www. Ikatkatawordpress.com, 1998)............................. 12 Figure 2: Indonesian wayang shadow puppet and decoration (http:// www. Britannica.com, 1998) ........................................................................................................................................... 12 Figure 3: The ceremony of the offering a sacrifice to spirits in the west coast in Korea for village’s tranquility and rich haul. (http:/ / www. blognaver.com/pandorabox1 2001).... 19 Figure 4: The ceremony of an exorcism by shamans in Korea. (2001) ............................ 19 Figure 5: A shaman in Korea (http:// www. yonhapnews.co.kr 2003). ............................ 20 Figure 6: A shaman in Korea (2003)................................................................................. 20 Figure 7: Talchum in Korea (http:// www. naver.com 2002)........................................... 24 Figure 8: Talchum in Korea (2002).................................................................................. 24 Figure 9: Grotowski’s The Constant Prince (http:// www. polishculture-nyc.org 1965)..31 Figure 10: MadangNori in Korea (http:// www. khan.co.kr 1998) .................................. 37 Figure 11: Madang Nori in Korea (http:// www. café naver.com/jindo 2005) ................ 39 Figure 12: Madang Nori in Korea (2005) ........................................................................ 41 Figure 13: Indian Theater, Jana Sanskrit (http:// www. flickr.com) ............................... 41 Figure 14: Andrei Serban’s The Trojan Women (http:// radio. village voice. com/photogallery1974) ..................................................................................................... 43 Figure 15: Ellen Stewart’s Electra (http:// offoffonline. com/ archives 2004)................. 43 v Figure 16: Ariane Mnouchkine’s Tambours sur La Digue (http:// www. theatre-du- soleil.fr/tambour 2005) ..................................................................................................... 46 Figure 17: Ariane Mnouchkine’s Tambours sur La Digue (2005).................................. 47 Figure 18: Performing space of Tambours sur La Digue (2005) .................................... 47 Figure 19: The Constant Prince, (http:// www. polishculture-nyc.org 1965).................. 52 Figure 20: The Constant Prince (1965) ........................................................................... 52 vi Abstract COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE RITUAL ASPECTS OF WESTERN AND ASIAN PERFORMANCE By HYUNG DON LEE, MASTER OF FINE ARTS A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. Virginia Commonwealth University, 2009 Major Director: DR. NOREEN C. BARNES DIRECTOR OF GRADUATE STUDIES, DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE This comparative study focuses on ritual aspects of Western and Asian performance. We may say that ritual in contemporary theater production has limitation to become realization. The limitation arises from contemporary period’s nature. We know that these days we do not have common or collective psyche. However, some theatre artists are trying to get back ritual function and process to recover real communion between spectator and performer throughout performance. vii Chapter 1 Introduction As a Korean, I have studied Theatre at Virginia Commonwealth University since 2006. I am being newly influenced by Western culture, and I also think that life and study in the United States has given me the opportunity to think about my identity as not only Korean but also Asian, and about both Asian and Western performance with a new perspective. One of the most interesting issues to me during the years is what the differences and similarities of ritual aspects between the West and Asia in performance are, and why. If my memory serves me right, when I studied and worked in Seoul, Korea, I hardly thought of these aspects carefully, though I was interested in it. There is no doubt that Western circumstances, theatrical, and educational settings in both Virginia Commonwealth University and the United States have made me ponder over the question seriously. These days, it is recognized that many Asian performances have been influenced by the style of Western performances. We can say that Western performances have brought a number of modernized benefits to Asia, especially Korea. Also, many Western artists have tried to connect with Asian and non-Western performances and their ritual aspects by means of cultural interaction and artistic necessity. Some artists like Artaud and Grotowski were preoccupied with Asian or non-Western performances and their ritual aspects. Since Artaud, in the early twentieth century, certain ritual aspects of Asian or non-Western 1 performance have worked its way through Western performance. Overall, I will limit the discussion to the Asian context. The majority of traditional Asian performances have strong oral traditions. In other words, performing techniques are usually communicated not only mouth to mouth but also body to body like athletes. Even though many traditional Asian performances, as a result, have weak text bases, they also have strong tendencies to focus on, to quote Turner, “immediate context-sensitive ritual” (8). A series of those facts have attracted my attention and curiosity. As a result, I chose this subject as my thesis. We know that nowadays many artists use ritual frequently in their performances. It is clear that ritual is one of the most important aspects related to performance. Several studies have demonstrated that it is hard to separate the characteristics of between ritual and performance. Rituals are usually divided into two categories, the sacred and secular. However, we can say that there is no clear separation between secular and sacred. Also, there is no question that rituals closely accompany human beings’ lives: The life of an individual in any society is a series of passages from one age to another and from one occupation to another…Life comes to be made up of a succession