National Theater Company of KOREA

[온라인 극장] 하지맞이 놀굿풀굿 <쇼케이스> Poster

[Online Theater] Hajimaji nolgutpulgut: Showcase

24 Sep, 2020~ 26 Sep, 2020

  • Venue

    Online Theater 

  • Genre

    Theater

  • Show Time

    Thursday 19:30ㅣSaturday 16:30ㅣ No performance on Friday

  • Tickets

    Free

  • Duration

    132mins[Yeon Gut 演,Good (Unfold Good) 55mins, A Novice Shaman Takes Over the Stage 37mins, Dangkeulmaeda(Spirit Awaits) 40mins]

  • Enquiry

    cs@ntck.or.kr

  • Language Korean

    Age Restriction Suitable for ages 14 and over

About the Showcase

Rediscovery of the Archetype of Korean Theater III

 

The showcases of Celebrating the Summer Solstice: Hajimaji nolgutpulgut reinterpret the messages of communication, consolation and empathy embedded in gut (Korean shamanic ritual). Through various attempts to achieve an interface between gut and theater, they serve as yeonhaengja, thereby breaking free from the popular conceptions of gut, and connecting theater with the audience. These showcases with different themes and forms have been produced by three yeonhaengja from various fields—carefully selected by the yeonhee director Nam In-woo in consideration of the purpose of the project.

* Yeonhaengja: the role of an intermediary between gods and humans in a traditional gut ritual usually fulfilled by a shaman

 

 

 

Yeon Gut 演,Good  (Unfold Good)

Actor Moon Min-hyoung, whose credits include not only plays and musicals but also television roles, takes the lead as yeonhaengja. Yeon Gut ,Good(Unfold Good) presents a platform where gods and humans are brought together, and aims at achieving true communication with the audience through gut. In the form of a drag show (cross-dressing and switching the socially conditioned gender roles), the yeonhaengja on the stage becomes a third person that lends an ear to the audience—just as a shaman playing the role of yeonhaengja in gut would comfort the souls of the dead and the living through someone else.

 

Synopsis

In an era where emotions run dry and each other’s breaths are shunned, we yearn for communication more desperately than ever. In the aftermath of a thunderstorm, our yeonhaengja appears amidst a heavy rain. As the first step to reach out to the audience, he lays bare his own life story: “Sadly, people only appreciate me when I’m gone.” He presents various portraits of a miserable modern man and an anguished minority, thereby performing a ritual for the well-being and happiness of all.

 

 

 

A Novice Shaman Takes Over the Stage

Leading the showcase as yeonhaengja, Kim Sol-ji is a traditional yeonhee specialist, whose work in music and theater has explored various points of contact between traditional art and contemporary aesthetics. Playwright Bae Hae-Youl, who previously garnered praise for his work Route 7, and talented musician and music director Kim Heon-ki have put their efforts together to create this monodrama. Novice shaman Kim Sol-ji unfolds narratives centered on Shakespeare and his characters—designed to comfort the souls of those who died because of theater.

 

Synopsis

“Great, I’ll perform a shamanic ritual on this stage today.”

Novice shaman Kim Sol-ji detects powerful spiritual energies and sets out to perform the first stage of a shaman rite. She whistles and searches everywhere for the spirits that have infiltrated the theater. Finally, she finds them crouched down in the seats and covered in blood. As it turns out, these people—no, these ghosts—all died because of theater!

 

 

 

Dangkeulmaeda(Spirit Awaits)

 

Headed by yeonhaengja Ko Dong-uk, the interdisciplinary artist collective EASThug garnered much attention in January 2020 for Gut, Trance and Exhilaration—a modern take on the musical elements of gut that visualized as data the brainwaves of performers in a state of trance. In Dangkeulmaeda(Spirit Awaits), they invite the audience to become part of their creative world through stage light and reinterpreted music of gut. By sharing their experience of finding solace in art, they aim to convey the messages of consolation inherent in gut in a new way.

 

Synopsis

“When I summoned gods with sound, they arrived as lights!”

The versatile rhythms and highly intensive and explosive movements usually associated with gut receive modern interpretations, filling the space with new music and colorful lights. The diverse images of gut engaging with the live audience dissolve the boundary between the stage and the audience, and thus create a space where gods and humans are brought together.

* Dangkeul: A sacrificial table placed in the center of the house and used for gut on Jeju Island