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Mythologizing the Global with the ‘Korean Original Musical’1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 16 September 2014
Abstract
Because South Korea's national sovereignty is a matter of cultural production, Seoul boasts an energetic programme of world-class performances that educate both foreigners and Koreans about the nation's struggle to assert its subjectivity throughout centuries of invasion, colonization and displacement. Three musicals re-present episodes from Korea's mythical past in ways that demonstrate a ‘primordial’ uniqueness of Korean global presence. The Celestial Clock addresses a Korean audience, unfolding outdoors against the backdrop of Gyeonghuigung Palace. Miso: The Original Korean Musical – Love Songs from Chunhyang, a showcase for traditional performing arts, uses pantomime and subtitles to guide an international audience through a popular legend; and Miso II: Land of the Gods stages Korean mythical history in breathtaking spectacle. The musicals, by arguing for the ‘always already’ global viability of Korean national sovereignty, also work to destabilize current ‘mythologies’ of what it means for a state to achieve ‘global’ status.
- Type
- Articles
- Information
- Theatre Research International , Volume 39 , Issue 3: Theatre Research International and Theatre Survey , October 2014 , pp. 168 - 181
- Copyright
- Copyright © International Federation for Theatre Research 2014
References
NOTES
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11 This summary is compiled from my attendance of the performance, reading the Korean script with the assistance of Joanne Ku, and the performance programme, which provided a synopsis in English.
12 Performance programme, ‘Musical the Celestial Watch, 고궁뮤지글 찬상시계’, printed by Museum Play theatre company, unnumbered pages.
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16 As this article goes to press, the Chongdong Theatre opens its 2014 production, ‘MISO: Baebijang-jeong’, based on a late Joseon-era satirical novel.
17 Seoul.go.kr, ‘Hallyu Style: Miso’, at http://english.seoul.go.kr/cav/ena/hallyu_view.php?idx=8118&, accessed 29 November 2013.
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31 Anderson, p. 36.