Transforming Indigenous Performance in Contemporary South Korean Theatre
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Transforming Indigenous Performance in Contemporary South Korean Theatre: The Case of Sohn JinCh’aek’s Madangnori DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By ChuYoung Chon, MA Graduate Program in Theatre The Ohio State University 2014 Dissertation Committee: Lesley Ferris, Advisor Chan E. Park-Miller Joy Reilly Copyright by ChuYoung Chon 2014 Abstract Contemporary South Korean theatre of the twenty-first century has actively embraced the reproduction of indigenous tradition. Productions marked with Korean cultural codes are now a format for success among domestic and non-domestic audiences. Today, the revivalist movement of Korean indigenous arts is widely recognized as a pathway to the global market. The aim of this movement is to establish “Koreannesque theatre,” that accurately represents Korean culture, as a competitor among other national or ethnic theatres. Ultimately, this revitalization demonstrates an unceasing longing for “national theatre,” or theatre that proudly represents Korean culture and sentiments to others. Here, the adjectives “Korean” and “Koreannesque” take on a nationalistic meaning that presupposes ethnically unique Korean features that broadly refer to the indigenous or traditional customs and culture prior to the influence of Japanese colonization and Western influence. The objective of this study is to critically examine South Korean director Sohn JinCh’aek’s creatively revived form of madangnori, an indigenous outdoor performance marked by theatrical story-telling and musical-like quality. The study investigates how Sohn contradicted contemporary society and artistic direction, and how he sought to establish a new theatre genre unique and native to Korean ethnic identity. By examining madangnori’s social and artistic relations with the representative theatrical work at that time, I will locate its place within the domestic and international domains. At the same ii time, I will explore the uniqueness of this uncommon and unrecognized theatrical form, which was ironically, made popular by a mainstream theatre director. This dissertation also indexes the rich matrix of events which led to the creation of madangnori and to its unusually long-term success; “Long-term” relative to other theatrical forms in South Korean theatre. I will examine the somewhat unclear relationship between madangnori and two stylistically similar genres, ch’anggŭk and madanggŭk. Ch’anggŭk is a modernized adaptation of p’ansori which is performed as an opera. Madanggŭk is a modernized adaptation of mask dance drama which shared great stylistic similarities with Sohn’s earlier productions before madangnori settled down as a specific performance genre after the 1990s. Ch’anggŭk and madanggŭk were created and promoted by different political groups, yet madangnori partly share the stylistic and ideological directions with them. I argue that Sohn’s work has more in common with these two theatre genres more than with the two contemporary directors, Oh T’aeSŏk and Lee YunT’aek, whose work also have been discussed under the “modernization of tradition.” To varying degrees, madangnori, ch’anggŭk, and madanggŭk aimed to formulate a “national” theatre and a “folk” theatre, an objective shared by Oh and Lee. While their objectives and medium seem to overlap with Sohn, Oh and Lee chose vastly different means for executing their aims. This study is an attempt to call attention, in both Korean and international theatre scholarship, to the mapping of contemporary Korean theatre through the lens of Sohn’s work, the madangnori. Keywords: Korean theatre, re-invention of indigenous tradition, contemporisation, modernization, nationalism iii Dedication This document is dedicated to my parents, ChaeChung Chang and ChungKyu Chon, for their patience and guidance. I thank my Heavenly Father for training me through the “desert land (광야)” and allowing me to complete the project. iv Acknowledgments First and foremost I would like to express many thanks to my advisor, Dr. Lesley Ferris for her patience and wonderful guidance on tackling scholarly issues. Her superb balance in both scholarly and practical involvement in theatre has always motivated me to see her as a role model. The insights I gathered from her seminars on post-colonialism in line with the transatlantic carnival, convinced me that the geographically and cultural distant phenomena in South Korea could connect with American scholars. Most importantly, without her continuous support and care, this study would not have been completed. I thank Dr. Chan E. Park for her direct and nurturing guidance. She taught me much more than only academic scholarship. Workshop performances presented through her efforts, on p’ansori, changgu, and sijo, to name a few, provided opportunities for me to continue the practical training I had received while I was at Michoo. To me, her classes were also an academic version of what Korean theatre practitioners were endeavoring— to introduce Korean arts and culture to a broader audience. I aspire to follow in those steps in the near future. I also want to express my appreciation to Dr. Joy Reilly, who always welcomed me into her office with a warm, fragrant cup of English tea. In addition to being the supervisor for the Theatre Appreciation class I worked as her teaching assistant, she encouraged me when I felt weak and down; her kind words of encouragement and her warm smile gave my poor soul a boost so that I could get back on my feet again. I thank Dr. Thomas Postlewait for his invigorating seminars on the eighteenth century dramatic literature and nineteenth century American popular v entertainment, areas of subjects less common in my home, South Korea. The navigation through the historiographical investigations on the nineteenth century popular entertainment not only taught me the tools of historiography, but also gave me insights for treating such neglected forms in the same period in Korea, also largely outside of the academic focus when I did my graduate studies. Also I thank Dr. Stratos Constantinidis for his rich and thought-provoking seminars on ancient Greek theatre and its place in contemporary society, which challenged me to take greater seriousness in contemplating on the contemporaneity of indigenous Korean theatre. In fact, although I had preliminary research done prior to coming to OSU, the ideas on and objective of this study began to take more concrete shape during the very first seminar I took in the first quarter at OSU by Dr. Allan Munro whose advisor was Constantinidis. There, I was introduced to Temple Hauptfleisch along with several South African plays in their historical and political contexts, where I was astounded to see the parallels in the complexity among political, academic, and theatrical states of South Africa and South Korea. All things considered, I feel fortunate to have studied under all those prominent theatre scholars and to have had opportunities to tackle diverse subjects from ancient theatre to contemporary performance arts. I also thank The Ohio State University for its various research assistance programs for graduate students. My initial trips to South Korea were partly supported by the research and travel grants from the Department of Theatre, the Council for Graduate Students, and Arts and Humanities Research Grants. The Alumni Grants for Graduate Research and Scholarship (2008) was very helpful to support necessary expenses. The vi members of the 2008 Writing Group at the OSU also deserve many thanks for their interests in my research topic and insightful comments as general readers. The 2009 Dissertation Workshop by the IL/IN East Asia National Resource Center was of great help where I could get insightful comments from the prominent scholars of Korean Studies in the U.S. I want to thank my friends whose friendship and emotional support sustained me during this long journey. While at OSU, I thank my four friends I first met in Columbus, OH, for their companionship, namely Zekyie Yahsi, Kendra Girardot, Namhee Kim, and Minwoo Jang. To my Korean friends from my college years, Ahran Kim and Jijoon Song, who always welcomed me heartily and hosted me with endless love, I owe the deepest and the most sincere gratitude. Their houses in Long Island and later in Boston, MA, were my second home that helped me lessen homesick and get re-energized, where also their beautiful children, Yeonvee and Juho showered me with love and happiness. My heartfelt gratitude also goes to several personnel in Korea, who influenced the earlier stages of my academic path: Dr. MiHee Kim, my former advisor in the School of Drama at the Korean National University of Arts, who encouraged me to examine the productions of the Michoo Theatre Company; Dr. JunHo Choi, who referred me to the Michoo Drama Institute at the Michoo Theatre Company by contacting its Public Relations Manager, Ms. Park HyŏnSuk. Above all, I thank the director Sohn JinCh’aek and Professor Chŏng HoBung (the then acting teacher of the Michoo Drama Institute) who kindly suggested that I join the Drama Institute as a regular student instead of a mere observer and offered a scholarship for the entire year-long acting training program. While vii being a student there, they also asked a newspaper reporter to include my interview to comment on the training program alongside the interview with a twenty year old female student, Kim ChinJu. Ms. Park, despite her unimaginably extremely busy schedule, was ready to help me in terms of providing the requested production materials that I had requested of the director Sohn. Also the Michoo actors, who are at the same time humble and proud about their madangnori performance, showed openness toward my observations and questions. Thanks to Director Sohn, I was allowed to sit in the middle of rehearsals and discussions, where the atmosphere was sometimes tense due to the reservedness of the experienced actors who rather want to avoid being seen by an outsider when their mistakes are being pointed out.