Taepyeongseogok: King Jeongjo Hosts a Banquet (Performance)

King Jeongjo, son of Crown Prince Sado, hosts a great feast in the name of his father and for his mother's 60th birthday at Hwaseong Fortress, 33 kilometers south, and a huge endeavor to reach in the formal royal processional. The National Gugak Center hosts the performance at the Yeakdang: Taepyeongseogok: King Jeongjo Hosts a Feast for Citizens in the Name of His Father.

King Jeongjo and "The Music of Great Peace"

Scholar-sovereign King Jeongjo's celebrated visit to Hwaseong Fortress

King Jeongjo (r. 1776-1800) was the sovereign at the forefront of both scholarship and politics in the Joseon Dynasty of the late 18th century. With his deep knowledge of musicology surpassing that of other Joseon Dynasty kings, he wrote music manuscripts, while, early in his reign he founded Gyujanggak, which functioned as the royal library and a political and academic center that led the Joseon Dynasty to its heyday of culture. The center was also in charge of retraining elite government officials. King Jeongjo presented musical instruments to the center in an action signaling that bureaucrats should know music well. He engaged in a large-scale literary compilation project and wrote scholarly manuscripts demonstrating the nation's interest in literature as well. In addition, aware of their significance, he strove to modify and improve the national rites.

In 1795 (the 19th year of King Jeongjo's reign), his mother, Lady Hyegyeong, reached her sixtieth birthday, as would have King Jeongjo's father, the Crown Prince Sado known for his tragic death. King Jeongjo planned to visit the newly-constructed Hwaseong Fortress with his mother in order to celebrate her birthday there. An expression of filial piety toward his mother on one hand, on the other hand, the renowned visit also served to parade the King's achievements in order to provide impetus to political reform. The dates for the eight-day journey from February 9-16, 1795 in the lunar calendar were selected in order to avoid the busy farming season of June in which Lady Hyegyeong's actual birthday fell.

Offering jinchan, a court banquet, at Bongsudang on the fifth day of the celebrated trip to Hwaseong Fortress

The most significant event of the eight days was Lady Hyegyeong's 60th birthday celebration that took place at Bongsudang on the fifth day of the journey (the third day at Hwaseong Fortress) beginning at 8:45am on February 13, 1795 in the lunar calendar. The banquet featured the offering of a cup of liquor seven times to the guest of honor. King Jeongjo offered the first cup of liquor to Lady Hyegyeong, and then he received a cup of liquor from his mother. After that, key invited figures took turns offering the cup of liquor to the Lady. When each cup of liquor was offered, various court dances were performed accompanied by music. In total, fifteen kinds of court dances were presented: Heongseondo, Geumcheok, Sumyeongmyeong, Hahwangeun, Pogurak, Mugo, Abak, Hyangbal, Hakmu, Yeonhwadaemu, Suyeongjang, Cheoyongmu, Geommu, and Seonyurak.

The performances included various dances descended from the Goryeo Dynasty as well as dances newly created during the Joseon Dynasty, for example, Geommu (the Sword Dance) and Seonyurak (the Boating Dance). A temporary stage was constructed to provide expanded performance space at Bongsudang. Heonseondo (Offering the Heavenly Peach) which depicts the offering of seondo, the fruit of perennial youth and longevity, which emerges once in three thousand years, was the first dance performed. In it, King Jeongjo's heartfelt wish for his mother's longevity is well-expressed.

If you look closely, you can even see the "cranes" that performed in the Crane Dance.

Order of the ceremony

Chapter 1: Prepare the opening of a new age

Chabi: Preparing the feast

45 minutes before the beginning of the ceremony, female officers, female butlers, and female staff in charge of Jeongjae (royal court dance) stand by and install musical instruments. 30 minutes before, royal families, concubines and high officials are ushered by court ladies into the banquet hall. At 15 minutes before, at the first drum beat a court lady reports to King that the feast is ready to begin. At the next drum beat, all the guests move to the place where they bow, escorted in by court ladies.

Chapter 2: Jeongjo and Lady Hyegyeong take the first step toward reconciliation

Siyeon: Starting the feast

At the third drum beat, Jeongjo enters. In a minute Lady Hyegyeong enters and takes a seat. At the solemn announcement by the master of ceremony, royal and noble ladies bow to Lady Hyegyeong twice, and then Jeongjo and his subjects bow twice. 

Two female officers present Lady Heygyeong with a list of food, a scarf and flowers, while the other two female officers are sprinkling flowers. Two female singers enter, and stand on the east and west sides of the hall respectively. They sing for Lady Hyegyeong a celebratory song "Jangrakjang, song of happy longevity" composed by Jeongjo himself. The feast now begins.

Chapter 3: The living (Lady Hyegyeong) and the dead (Crown Prince Sado) pray for the reconciliation of all people

Chugwon: Praying for longevity

Jeongjo offers liquor and submits a written gratitude praising the virtue and wishing the longevity of his mother Lady Hyegyeong. It is read aloud by a court lady, Jeon-un. After the reading is finished, everybody hails three times, "May the queen mother live a thousand years."

Chapter 4: In exuberance, Lady Hyegyeong takes the cup that Jeongjo is offering

Jinjak: Offering liquor with the most respectful manners

Offering cups of liquor to Lady Heygyeong according the royal ranks is not just a to offer liquor but a courtesy to wish her good health and longevity. 

The first cup by Jeongjo, the 22nd King of Joseon, son of the late Crown Prince Sado and Lady Hyegyeong 

The second cup by the eldest daughter Princess Cheongyeon and second daughter Princess Cheonseon. Princess Cheongyeon (1754 - 1821) is from the royal family of Joseon, the eldest daughter between Honorary King Jangjo (Crown Prince Sado) and Queen Heongyeong (Lady Hyegyeong). She was a duchess in her living time, honored as a princess later by Emperor Gojong. Princess Cheongseon, second daughter of Lady Hyegyeong, was also a duchess in her living time and honored to be a princess in 1899. 

The third cup by Daughter-in-law of Lady Hyegyeong. Lee, wife of Hong Naksin, who was a younger brother of Lady Hyegyeong. 

The fourth cup by Duke Kim Giseong, first son-in-law. He was ordained Duke Gwangeunbuwi after marrying Duchess Cheongyeon. 

The fifth cup by Hong Naksin, younger brother of Lady Hyegyeong and brother-in-law of Crown Prince Sado. Jeongjo gave the brothers of Naksin miliary poisitions to take care of Lady Hyegyeong.

Chapter 5: Announcing new beginning at the end of the feast of all citizens

Payeon: Ending the feast

To keep the excitement of the feast until the last minute, a female singer sings "Gwanhwajang, song of admiring glory." afterwards all the female dancers come out hauling a boat named Chaeseon and dances to the boating music "Seonyurak, joy of boating: singing "Eobusa, song of fishermen." 

Lady Hyegyeong and royal family members exit and the feast Bongsudangjinchan officially ends. But Jeongjo stays and entertains himself with his subjects, praising that the feast was "the happiest occasion in a thousand years". He tells his subjects that "10 years later I will pay respect again to Hyeonryungwon, the mausoleum of my father and hold a banquet to celebrate my mother's 70th birthday. So preserve all the apparatuses used today."

Lady Hyegyeong's 60th birthday celebration on the state of the National Gugak Center in 2018

The reenactment of Lady Hyegyeong's birthday celebration premiered in April 2001 as a performance for the 50th anniversary commemoration of the opening of the National Gugak Center. It has been performed several times onstage since then, to growing popularity. In 2018, the production will be the year-end performance presented by the National Gugak Center.

The faithfully-staged reconstruction of the court banquet for Lady Hyegyeong at Bongsudang in 1795--which was developed with the support of historical research for its premiere by the National Gugak Center--is a successful example of the recreation of a royal ceremony practiced 223 years ago. It was made possible thanks to the written document entitled Wonhaengeulmyojeongniuigwe. This year's performance includes the offering of a cup of liquor five times in total. Stage settings, video images, the arrangement of characters, and the organization of court dances for each liquor offering differ somewhat from those in previous years.

Sim Chung, a Korean Fairy Tale Ballet

A YouTube clip of Sim Chung

Sim Chung is probably one of the most famous pieces of Korean folk tales. The story is of the dutiful daughter of a blind peasant. Her mother dies, according to some versions, while giving birth to Sim Chung, and so her father raises Sim Chung by himself and together they have a meager subsistence. And yet, they are happy together and totally devoted to one another.

When Sim Chung is in the bloom of her youth, her blind father meets a Buddhist monk who tells him that in donating many pricey bags of rice to Buddha, his sight will be regained. The father tells Sim Chung and Sim Chung determines to help her father get the bags of rice, but in order to do so, the only way to get the money is to sell herself for ransom to a merchant who needs to make a sacrifice to the Dragon King.

Sim Chung, in her deepest filial piety, pledges herself as the sacrifice for the benefit of her father and leaves on the merchant ship. When out to sea, she willingly plunges herself into the sea and sinks to the bottom.

Sim Chung parting from her father after selling herself as a ransom. The sailors have to force the villagers away and tear weeping Sim Chung from the arms of her father. (Picture source)

On the ship and out to sea Sim Chung is told she must plunge herself into the sea as promised. The sailors and merchant are in great fear. A storm is raging. She must plunge herself as sacrifice to appear the god ... or they will die too. She jumps.

At the bottom of the sea the sea fairies gather and dance and she awakes in their midst. They dance around her and the Dragon King comes and dances also; he finds her most beauteous and also most virtuousness for sacrificing herself for her father. He proposes. She declines expressing her love and ache for her father, so the Dragon King takes pity on her and releases her, making it possible for her to return to the surface of the sea. He places her in an enchanted lotus blossom which grows to the surface of the water and is spotted by servants of the king of the land. The servants harvest the spectacular lotus blossom and transport it to the garden of the king, where the lotus blossom bursts open, releasing Sim Chung back among her people, but this time in the court.

The king is entranced also by her beauty and the great respect and filial love she willingly gives to her father. He also proposes marriage and Sim Chung accepts. Once married, she immediately prepares a great feast and orders all the blind men of the kingdom to attend with the hope of being reunited with her lost father.

The courtship dance of the king and Sim Chung.

The court exulting in the first feast by the new queen ... the feast in which the queen
in great filial piety desperately searches for her father.

The feast goes on for some time and Sim Chung is in despair about not being reunited with her father, but before the feast is over, her father comes groping in. Sim Chung flings herself in his arms, knowing that though she paid for his visual cure, he is still as blind as before. Her father initially refuses to believe that she is alive, but once he feels her face and hears her voice again and again, he is stunned and abruptly sits down. She flings her arms around him again and with his sudden belief that she is alive, "POP" his vision is restored.

The moment when the blind father regained his sight!

In this variation of the story, all of the blind old men even had their vision restored afterwards with the touch of Sim Chung ... for supposedly it was her filial piety that awakened the souls of the men and gave them vision beyond anything they had experienced before.

And thus ends the tale of Sim Chung, 

lauded as a great tale of Confucian values 

because of its rich thread of filial piety.

The Pirates of Penzance: Musical

The famous Gilbert & Sullivan's comic operetta, The Pirates of Penzance, is put on for the second time in the history of the Camarata Music Company (CMC) since its opening in 2010. The CMC now has over 900 members, including performers, musicians, behind the scene workers and supporters. The choir and music groups within the CMC organization provide musicals, concerts and volunteer for the disabled, at hospitals, nursing facilities, and more, with the dedication to providing high-quality musical outlets and camaraderie for all involved. (For more on their performances and volunteering, check out the website at www.camaratamusic.com).

The term "Camarata" comes from two meanings: First, from the "Florentine Camerata", a group of humanists, musicians, poets and intellectuals in Renaissance Florence, Italy. Important members included Giulio Caccini, Vincenzo Galilei, Count Giovanni de Bardi, Pietro Strozzi, and Ottavio Rinuccini. Second, Camarata comes from the word "camaraderie" meaning 'togetherness'. It is with this concept that they perform and label themselves as an international group, with members from 62 countries.

INTRODUCTION TO THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE

The Pirates of Penzance hardly needs an introduction. Long before Joe Papp's Broadway production and major motion picture added renewed popularity, this engaging operetta had established itself as one of the best loved pieces of musical theater in the English speaking world.

The Pirates of Penzance was the only Gilbert & Sullivan opus to receive its premiere in the US. In a vain attempt to secure an international copyright for their work, the celebrated team brought their fifth collaboration to the Fifth Avenue Theater in New York, clearly establishing the American appreciation for this uniquely British art form.

The history of Pirates is notable for several other reasons as well. On the voyage across the ocean, Sullivan misplaced his musical score and had to recreate all of the music from memory. His composition for the women's entrance eluded him, so he substituted a similar chorus from the never published score of Thespis. As a result, "Climbing Over Rocky Mountain" is the only authentic chorus in existence from that lost score. With the rousing ensemble number "When the Foeman Bares His Steel", Sullivan perfected the double chorus technique which was to become one of his hallmarks. Two distinct choral themes are introduced separately and then overlapped for a dramatic musical climax. Gilbert also brought to the foreground for the first time his frequent lampooning of the British Aristocracy, with direct references to Queen Victoria and the Peerage. Then of course "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" raised the art of the patter song to an all-time high. This song has been parodied in numerous product commercials (Campbell's Soup, Handiwipes, and The New York Times, among others), has been frequently used as an elocution exercise for speech students, and was once employed by comedian Tom Lehrer to set a list of all the elements from the periodic table!

The score for Pirates is as effervescent as its characters. Sullivan's reference to grand opera (and Verdi in particular) is everywhere, most notably in Mabel's aria "Poor Wand'ring One", which is a direct parody of Violetta's "Sempre Libera" from La Traviata -- in the same key and with the identical cadenza. Yet another layer of imitation enters the picture when Sullivan's take on the Anvil Chorus in Il Trovatore, "Come Friends Who Plough the Sea", later becomes the tune for the popular camp song "Hail, Hail the Gang's All Here". These examples refer to well-known moments; however, in many other Gilbert & Sullivan settings the parody remains more memorable than its original source!

SYNOPSIS

When Frederic was still a little boy, his nurse (Ruth) was told to apprentice him to become a pilot. She heard the word incorrectly and apprenticed him to a band of pirates, remaining with them herself as a maid-of-all-work. Although Frederic loathed the trade to which he had thus been bound, he dutifully served. As the show begins, his indentures are up and he announces his intention to leave the band and devote himself to the extermination of piracy. He urges the pirates to join him in embracing a more lawful calling, but they refuse. Ruth, however, wishes to become his wife. Having seen but few women during his pirate life at sea, Frederic hesitates to accept a woman so much older than himself, but he finally consents to take her.

Just then a group of girls, all the wards of Major-General Stanley, happen upon the scene. Frederic sees their beauty -- and Ruth's plainness -- and renounces her. Of these girls, Mabel takes a particular interest in Frederic, and he in her. The other girls are seized by the pirates and threatened with immediate marriage. When the Major-General arrives, he can dissuade the pirates only through a ruse; he tells them that he is an orphan, and so works upon their sympathies so that they let him and his wards go free.

During the ensuing days and nights, however, this lie troubles the Major-General's conscience. He sits brooding over it at night in a ruined chapel. He is consoled by his wards' sympathy and Frederic's plan of immediately leading a band of police against the pirates. The police are reluctant, but Frederic is still enthusiastic.

Meanwhile, the Pirate King and Ruth seek out Frederic with surprising news. They have discovered that his indentures were to run until his twenty-first birthday, and, as he was born in Leap Year on February 29, he has really had as yet only five birthdays. Obeying the dictates of his strong sense of duty, he immediately rejoins the pirates and tells them of the deception that has been practiced upon them by Major-General Stanley. The Pirate King and Ruth storm off threatening revenge, and Frederic sadly bids Mabel farewell.

And from there, without spoiling the ending, you will need to watch this cleverly written play-on-word musical to discover the ending for yourself. Quite entertaining. Very witty. Remarkably colorful. But decidedly slapstick.

Ballet: The Taming of the Shrew

Shakespeare's comic "The Taming of the Shrew" is a provocative gender satire, and the Korean National Ballet did a splendid job putting it into choreography.

As the story goes, two sisters -- one older and a man-hater and one younger and an amorous flirt -- were old enough to be married, but in Padua, Italy the older one needs to marry first or "dance barefoot at her sister's wedding". The older one was definitely a shrew. Three young men were in pursuit of the flirt, but all avoided the shrew, and yet the father wanted the older one married first. By chance the three men met an adventurer-traveler in an inn and told him of their plight. The adventurer was all for the dowry that would come with the shrew and determined to marry her ... but he also determined to woo her so she would want to marry him, and as men dreamed, have her be subservient to him. The wooing began after she was forced into marriage with him. He gave her the choice of riding the donkey to his home ... or walking with her delicate feet; she rode, and he kissed her. He gave her no food, because as he said, it was spoiled and he was saving her indigestion; he secretly ate but she didn't but he kissed her. The next morning he allowed her to eat, but on his terms, and she was so hungry she acquiesced, but first he kissed her. And so he tamed her, kissing her always when she fussed; his kisses were her reward for agreeing to his way of thinking. Eventually when they returned to the sister's wedding, she was tamed and obedient and oh so very loving, while all the other women were conniving and disagreeable in their relationships to their husbands. And so Shakespeare's merry tale of woo and taming lauded men and made women all look shrewish ... unless of course they became meek and mild and submissive after marriage.

Probably my favorite musical is "Kiss Me, Kate", which is the modern version of "The Taming of the Shrew", and this ballet very much followed he story-line of "Kiss Me, Kate"!

I love ballet performances and so when I saw this particular ballet scheduled, I knew I had to see it. However, I have to say I was a bit disappointed. Ballets that includes majestic leaps, graceful spins and floating footsteps are exhilarating to watch, and of course this ballet did have some of those features, but it was more of an miming performance rather than a dance, and the mime was vaudeville style ... and I really dislike vaudeville. The target audience of this performance was clearly kids, for their entertainment. The deep story and twisting Shakespearean comic-humor was replaced with the cutesy, which of course Korea being a cutesy culture, was much enjoyed by the larger audience. Felt a bit let down after the vaudeville, uh, I should say ballet. Serious or thought-provoking performances are what fuel my brain, but really I can't complain. I only paid W5,000 for the ticket and I certainly got a lot of entertainment for my money! And if I ignore the silly and exaggerated actions of vaudeville, I can say that I really did enjoy this performance and had quite an entertaining evening.

The Nutcracker, a play

Went to a brilliant ballet performance of the Nutcracker. 49 adult ballerinos, a host of children, and phenomenal sets including a massive Xmas tree that grew out of the floor. Just wow!

Of course the ballet starts out with a young girl and her nutcracker doll, who becomes animated and the fanciful story begins. I don't know how such a tiny, well-muscled human could hold some of the stances this "nutcracker" held, but he was truly an artist at body control!

A half hour before the show, an elegantly clad ensemble in gold brocade with white decorative ropes and tall black plush caps played Christmas music in the foyer and guests mixed and mingled, made food and drink purchases, and browsed the many nutcracker dolls to buy as mementos of the play.

The Nightmare before Christmas, a play

The basic story of The Nightmare before Christmas is there once was a halloween character who had heard of Christmas and other holidays, and he wanted to be as popular as the much loved Santa Claus. This was all in the distant and raucous time in the past when people had heard of various holidays but couldn't really distinguish between them or between the characters that played a prominent part during them. So, Mr. Halloween (for lack of a known name) came up with a grand plan to kidnap Santa Claus and then he himself would deliver presents to all the little kids and make them feel joy.

All of Mr. Halloween's friends celebrated such a lively and lovely idea! And they all wanted to play a part in helping Mr. Halloween steal Christmas and make Christmas more to Mr. Halloween's tastes. And let's just say that many of Mr. Halloween's friends were macabre, conniving, and deceitful ... They were not evil per se but they were definitely joyous in their somewhat unsavory ways.

But even in Halloween land, there is love ... and Miss Orange-hair, quiet and shy and demure, really loved Mr. Halloween and would happily do anything for him ... as long as it wasn't too dishonest.

The three most unethical characters were causing problems to Mr. Halloween's plans, such nasty characters that would deceived even each other. So Mr. Halloween decided to recruit their wicked selves and employ their energy in kidnapping Santa Claus. Oh, the wicked unethical trio were delighted ... and came up with some rather unsavory methods for the kidnapping.

Unfortunately, as holiday characters at that time didn't really know each other and therefore were confused about which holiday characters were important on which days, the unsavory trio kidnapped not Santa Claus ... but the Easter Bunny!

This of course was unacceptable to Mr. Halloween and he ordered them to take the Easter Bunny back and release him. They were given a second chance though of kidnapping Santa, who would be easy to spot as he would be wearing a big red suit to cover his big fat belly. The unsavory trio departed ...

Once Santa Claus was properly captured and trussed up like a sack of beans, Mr. Halloween donned Santa Claus's suit and ...

his Halloween minions danced raucously with joy and celebration at the turn of events and what they were sure was to be Mr. Halloween's success at being Santa Claus.

Unfortunately, Mr. Halloween was not so successful. He had trouble flying his sleigh, which was pulled by a little squirrelly dog with a glowing nose. He had trouble with chimneys. And worst of all, he had trouble with the children ... HE TERRIFIED THEM with his unpleasant halloween aspect covered by the sheep's clothing, the Santa Claus suit.

He regretfully decided that he had made a mistake, that his great efforts weren't panning out well.

The play closed with a triumphant ending. Mr. Halloween realized that he could only be appreciated on Halloween, and Santa Claus was too much loved at Christmas for there ever to be a substitute. And through this whole fiasco of kidnapping and concealment, the holiday characters got to know one another ... and respect one another ... and so from that time on, the holiday characters realized that on certain days they would be most visible and loved, but on other holidays it was the turn for other holiday characters to be loved and appreciated.

And like many a good tale, The Nightmare before Christmas had another happy ending. Mr. Halloween realized that he loved Miss Orange-hair like she loved him, and they are living a happy ever ending even now.

And so the Halloween characters celebrated both happy endings with wild, untrained, liberating dancing! And their dancing was not limited to the stage ... but wildly through the whole auditorium, up and down the aisles, and even grabbing audience members to rejoice with them in their grand discovery of many holiday characters who would be celebrated on the many different holidays.

Race, a play

David Mamet, play writer, is a master at unsettling his audience, and in his play Race, he introduces several contentious characters who expound deep but very controversial issues, satirizing society with their pointed ideas on race and gender but how those ideas change or deepen into extreme conflict as tensions become abrasively verbalized when taking a crime to trial.

The basic plot is two lawyers, one white and one black and both in their mid-40s, are debating accepting a case in which another man, a wealthy white in his mid-40s, is accused of raping a young black woman. The two lawyers start out arguing the point in defending a man who is almost assuredly guilty, so they wonder how they can win, because the arrogant wealthy accused just as much as said he had committed the crime. The problem was how to win the case as they had a good record of winning, and that was a heavy marketing strategy for them. Besides, they get more kickbacks when they win. But how to win when the accused is not really the one on trial, but the issue of race itself will be on trial.

The two lawyers then set about with a plan to enact in the courtroom: Susan, their young assistant lawyer newly hired, in her 20s and also black, was to wear a red sequined dress like the young woman who says she was raped. Susan was to be thrown on the floor, the sequins would of course scatter, and then the jury would clearly visual what the wealthy white man did to cause the sequins to be thrown all over the room where the crime was to have been done. Of course the two lawyers would be defending him but their reputation would remain intact when they lost as race was on trial more than the wealthy man. Politics. Sexual politics.

Susan, the young black lawyer, wasn't going for it. She did some secret sleuthing on her own to expose the white man, as, since race is on trial and she was practically being volunteered to play an active role in the reenactive of rape, and her body like many black women in history was to be a tool, she found condemning evidence and quietly tipped off authorities to the incriminating evidence. Her seniors in the office, the other two lawyers, were livid and in anger raged against each other about why she, a black had been hired, and other racial slurs thrown around.

Throughout the play, racial slurs were made. The accused white man didn't even realize that many of the statements he made on postcards were racially condemning as he regarded them as just good fun and laughs with his white cronies. The black lawyer had ordered a background check on Susan before she was hired as he said young black female lawyers (himself being black also so he would know) might have issues. The white lawyer was the one who wanted Susan to wear the red sequined dress in the courtroom and have a rape scene reenactment. Susan didn't say much, but her presence and her subtle workings behind the scene brought race issues to the surface that both the older white and black lawyers did not want in the trial.

Play: Medea

The White Box Theater has once again put together a stellar performance. This time on the Greek classic, Medea by Euripides. For this performance as with many in this theater, the theater was repartitioned to meet the acting needs; however, this time the audience had front-row seats and were seated around an arena of sorts, the Greek centerpoint of all communal activity but here the centerpoint of the drama unfolding. Medea, played by Stephanie Ann Foster, played the schizophrenic role of witch, seductress and the still in love but spurned wife, and to her shame, her conflicting emotions seared by rage at being the cuckold, she kills in a cunning passion her husband's new wife, her own beauteous children, and leaves the aches and pains of her deeds for her husband to discover ... and forever carry the burden that at heart, he was the monster who allowed the monster of a first wife to foist this evil on him.

Medea remonstrates with the women of Greece and gets their approval for some form of revenge on her man who took her from a foreign land and now tosses her aside for another women. Women, symbolized by the chorus, see she has a point.

Jason and Medea still wrapped in a web of love ... and hate. Their chemistry is still there but underlining that is the new wife who has appeared. For Medea, she has been displaced. For Jason, he has recovered an element of youth by engaging to marry a young and youthful girl, with innocence as her attracting charm.

Poisoned "gifts" have been given by Medea for the new wife. Her children (assisted by the chorus) are delivering them with strict instructions NOT TO TOUCH them. The chorus has turned on Medea but is powerless to change her or her intended destruction.

Medea, crafty and spiteful, spitting revengeful words at Jason for his traitorous act of dumping her when she made him the great king who he now is. Revenge is all she has left.

Jason's new bride, young and innocent, has been entangled in the web of Medea's witchery and dies a horrible death. Tragedy upon tragedy, and so the play ends with emotions of nothing but tragedy and bitter living.

Play: Santaland Diaries

David Raymond Sedaris (born December 26, 1956) is an American hunorist, comedian, author and radio contributor nominated for a Grammy Award. Sedaris has been described as 'the rock star of writers'. He was publicly recognized in 1992 when National Public radio broadcast his essay "SantaLand Diaries". He published his first collection of essays and short stories, Barrel Fever, in 1994. His next five essay collections, Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997), M Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004), and When You Are Engulfed in Flames (2008), became New York Times best sellers. In 2010, he released a collection of anthropomorphic stores, squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary. By 2008 his books had sold seven million copies. Much of Sedaris's humor is autobiographical and self-deprecating, and often concerns his family life, his middle-class upbringing in the suburbs of Raleigh, North Carolina, Greek heritage, jobs, education, drug use, obsessive behaviors and his life in France, London and the South Dawns.

About the play ...

Sedaris first read the essay on National Public Radio's Morning Edition on December 23, 1992. The piece was well-received, and provided Sedaris with his first major break. Sedaris later published the essay i the collections Barrel Fever (1994) and Holidays on Ice (1997). A much longer version of the piece first aired on December 20, 1996 on Public Radio International program This American Life. In 1996, Joe Mantello adapted Sedaris' essay for the stage as a one-man, one-act play, which debuted (as The SantaLand Diaries) at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York on November 7, 1996.

 

In this one-man, one-act play Kirk Dickens, a former Theater Arts teacher from the US, shares his humorous interpretation of the play. Needing a job, he applies as an elf for department stores promotional of selling Christmas and all jazz. As Crumpet the Elf, he laughs at the idiocy of his fellow elves and the Santa's, at people whose snobbery made them order Crumpet to do certain things they thought elves and santas must do for their children. He points a derisive finger at the lunacy of the marketing system and surprisingly shows character and conscience development at the events of Christmas he never questioned but now sees as fake.

 

Crumpet the Elf is witty and thought-provoking.

Play: A Doll's House

The Norwegian play "A Doll's House" which premiered in Denmark in December 1879 is a play much like William Russell's "Educating Rita", first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company in June 1980 in London, nearly a century later. Both plays have been selected in the last few months to be acted out in The Probationary Theater, and
both plays depict the growing awareness of a woman who was curbed by the social confines of her era, her social class and the men in her lives. Both plays deal with an awakening to self-awareness, self-development and the need for self-pride, not the kind that is cast off from the man she is attached to but deserving by her own existence and state of contribution to society. Institutional marriages become the object of discussion, not acceptance, the male-female hierarchy totters, and the women seek to explore what it is to be a woman beyond the confines they have hitherto not questioned.

While "Educating Rita", set a century later, was more about a woman fighting the mental confines of her low social class, "A Doll's House" was about a woman objectified into being a beautiful little doll, purposeless, functionless except as an armpiece and for the social setting, and sadly, voiceless. The "doll" in the house is told how to decorate, how to dress, how even to greet her squelchingly condescending husband upon his return every evening. The "doll" becomes a little bird that flutters and makes half-hearted attempts to be seen for what she is beyond being a "doll" without life of her own, until at the end of the play, the "doll" becomes animated with action, and flings herself against the gilded bars of her household cage and she flies out to discover ... herself. The play closed with the soon-to-be tasted freedom. The audience seemed hesitant at first before clapping at such a hint of the future, but not being given the satisfaction of knowing it.


When Ibsen wrote his play, this was such a magnificent ending for no one would know where the escape from the traditional male-dominated home could lead, so what a climax! UNESCO recognized in Ibsen's play quality of such value that the autographed manuscripts of "A Doll's House" were inscribed on the Memory of the World's Registry in 2001, in recognition of its historical value. I recognize it as a great play, especially as it invoked in me the rising frustration and anger that the "doll" was starting to feel. While she awakened to awareness of what her husband had made of her, I felt anger (perhaps the more modern emotion triggered by the obvious inequality of the relationship) for the husband's cloyness amplified as his repeatedly tried to soothe and coddle his wife as if she were a toy, a little doll. The last twenty minutes of the play were so cloying with his condescending tones, his meaningless but controlling sweet-nothings while she struggled to assert herself and rise above the blankets of sappy codependent-power obsession that my fists were clenched, and wow was I proud when she swung on her coat, stated clearly why she was leaving and walked, head held majestically high, out the door!

Ballet: Swan Lake

Ballets are majestic. Ballerinos and ballerinas have undergone such rigorous training to have fluid and graceful body movement that I sit in awe when I go to a ballet. I'm certainly not an authority on dance or ballet but I have seen ballet transitions in Korea since coming in 1991. Back in the early 1990s I went to a ballet - yes, just a single one, but I was surprised that the movements in the ballet were rather choppy and abrupt. For example, the dancers would make quick arm or leg movements away from the body, pause faintly, and then jerk the appendage back. Several of my colleagues and I were rather surprised that the movements weren't fluid and flowing.

 

From what I saw years ago and what I'm seeing now in the theater, there are big differences in fluidity and grace. Now, the dancing is gentle, gliding and ethereal.

 

Another difference I'm noting is that Korean ballet performances employ more dancers than the performances in the the US. I haven't been to many ballets in the states, so am not sure whether this is true or not, but Korea does seem to fill the stage in big performances with a lot of background dancers. This might be because the dance culture in Korea is so popular, even pop stars have large groups of backup dancers dancing, which is kind of culturally accepted for music performances here, so why shouldn't a ballet be profoundly glorious with many graceful background dancers too?

 

Tonight's performance was Swan Lake. And the swan glided around the lake "singing" her final song. Note the final picture below or the large number of ballerinas, and just imagine them floating around the lake in simultaneous choreographed graceful dance!

 

 

 

10 Minute Play Festival Competition

Seoul Players, one of the two most active expat groups for putting on plays in English, held their 2nd annual play festival competition on Friday and Saturday, September 14-15. Advance bookings had to be made if one hoped to enjoy the festival, especially the final night, as the facility was rather small to hold the masses of people eager for English entertainment. Fortunately my friend made reservations and we got there early enough to even get pretty decent seats.

This festival this year attracted over 200 ten-minute submissions, more than double what was submitted last year, which also was the first time the festival was held. By last weekend the submissions had been narrowed down to 14, and then 3 of the top plays from the Friday night performances and 3 for the Saturday performances -- as determined by audience popularity -- were selected to perform in the final round this weekend.

The festival was a great opportunity for writers, actors and directors to collaborate, and in many cases, to try something new. Many of the playwrights are from the Seoul community and were excited to share their literary expertise to a large and avidly interested English community.

The 6 final plays competing in the festival were:

Melting by Eddie Zipperer
The story began with two snowpeople, a pessimistic and worrisome husband and his exuberant and optimistic wife, who stood stationary in the front lawn of someone's yard, watching the activities of life unfolding around them. The pessimistic husband feared the orange blaze of the sun and his melting condition (as the sun glowing behind them moved in the arc across the sky) and the wife after a little nap woke to the pleasing glow of the illuminated world. As they melted, the husband worried and fretted and the wife enjoyed the beautiful brilliance around them.

The Audience by Daniel Kennedy
A rather intriguing study of the people in the play playing the role of the audience as they stared at us, the audience. We, the audience, were told not to laugh, wave or interact with the actors, and the actors waved, laughed at and commented on people in the audience, us. Thus, we became the focus of the play and the players' comments were made on their realization of the role of the audience (a real play on concepts). The 10-minute psychological play was a clever expose on the complicatedness of the role people play and who, in fact, is the audience.

Surprise by Mark Harvey Levine
Two people started out in a restaurant, one a clever but boring guy who could predict what people said before they said it, and his girlfriend who needed anger management and hated that her boyfriend could finish her sentences and tell her what she wanted before she knew she wanted it. The fury of the girlfriend built, her rudeness and temper escalated and she broke up with her boyfriend in a fiery fit. The boyfriend knew it was coming, of course, but what he didn't know was that the waitress knew what he was thinking before he knew and she liked his intuitiveness in all things, except his ability to know that she was the one for him. Surprise!

The Extras by Daniel Kennedy
A group of five people sat around wasting time waiting for another friend to show up in a coffee shop, but not all who waited wanted to. Conversation flickered between them but was interrupted by two other people in the coffee ship functioning in a surprising number of roles with a lot of spoofing from well-known movies. My friend and I missed many of the allusions, and I have to wonder at times if the majority of the people caught them all, but there was a lot of sporadic laughter as realization hit from the wild acting of an auditory-only organism to a movie spoof when he realized his dying wife was in fact the last barely recognizable apparition of his ... mother.

Calibans by Ray Salcedo
Three women went to a rather exotic restaurant, two were familiar with the place and one was being introduced. The specialty was alluded to with ribald and grose commentary but the newcomer was never clearly told what exactly was the specialty of the menu. Hints were thrown out as the women slurped up their alcohol drinks, and gradually the secret of the restaurants menu became to be known as young flesh .... as a child came hopping across a corner of the stage obviously fleeing some terror. The "child", a small thin Korean-American male, with duct-taped mouth and wearing only kid's cartoon character underwear and with trailing ropes from his bound hands and feet was hopping away. The drunk women calmly told the waiter, whose eyes widened and he ran after the hopping child, threw the child over his shoulder and disappeared, promising that all was under control and the menu would soon be brought. [I was repulsed by this ... and was greatly disappointed in the audience (a reflection of society perhaps and its desire for the macabre and the morbid) when it one first place.]

The Kiss by Mark Harvey Levine
A young single girl was singing loudly and doing her laundry when a platonic but good male friend came and asked for her advice, basically how she kissed. He wasn't interested in her but had been told by a previous date that he was a bad kisser and, as he had a hot date that night, planned to kiss his date but needed advice ... and he wanted a little practice from his friend. Well, the girl being a good friend finally agreed and he practiced kissing, amid her turning and laughing at the strangeness of the situation. However, each practice kiss got better and better with her tips and his practice, and the ultimate kiss was deep and changed them both. The play beginning in light-heartedness ended with deep discussion as the complicatedness of changing emotions came to the forefront.

After the audience had enjoyed all 6 10-minute plays, each member wrote his/her top three choices on a slip of paper and submitted the vote to play-ushers. Tallies were quickly made and the outcome was a clear win for Calibans. The Audience and The Extras came in second and third.

Gwanno Mask Drama

ORIGIN AND TRADITION

Gwanno Mask Drama is different from other region's mask drama in that the performers were the government servants, and is known alternately as the "Gangneung Mask Play". Unlike other countries, a mask dance in Korea is only a pantomime and speechless dance enactment. The origin of this particular mask drama is derived from Hahoe Byeolsin Gut and Donghea-an Byeolsin Gut (a gut is a type of exorcism for spirits, luck, wealth or health). The mask dance is ritualistic in nature, and in Gangneung's local history book, Imyeongji, the play was recorded to be continuously performed by shaman, ritual and mask performers.

The Gwanno Mask Dance is known for its long history. In 1909 it was abolished but through historical, research on January 16, 1967 it was designated as Important Intangible Cultural Asset. At that time, Kim Dong-ha and Cha Hyeong-won were designated as traditional artists. In 1985, the original figure was performed by civilians in Yucheon-dong, Gangneung City. On August 2, 1993, Kwon Yeong-ha was designated as traditional performing artist, followed by Kim Jong-hoon on July 22, 2000. The performance was chosen as a Masterpiece of Human Oral Tradition and Intangible Heritage in UNESCO on November 25, 2005.

CHARACTERISTICS AND SIGNIFICANCE

..... The local god offering play is the tradition of the mask drama.

..... It is the only pantomime and speechless mask dance in the country that is composed of dance and motion only.

..... Through performing gwanno, civilian and govenment employees are united.

..... Yangban's comical satire shows he harmony and prosperity of the community.

..... Somae Gaksi's expression of strong chastity implies her morality in the Confucian social order.
..... Jangjamari's big belly shape symbolizes the prayer for abundance and prosperity.
..... It is believed that the red swords and grim looks will chase bad spritis away, invoke blessings, dispel illness and pray for the good health of the society.

..... The region's traditional dance and melody make civilian's tradition good.

CHARACTER INTRODUCTION

Yangban Gwangdae (Yangban Clown)

The unusual length of beard that stands for vain authority and the sharp peaked hat that is used by low class level government officials during the Joseon Dynasty are quite different from a gentle shape hat (cheongja-gwan) used by yangban or aristocrats. This enactment typifies an old man without any strength but one who is trying to show his power. He is scared whenever he meets Ssi Ttakttagi but when he looks at Somae Gakssi he is faint-hearted and doesn't know what to do. His dance and action reveal his hypocritical image.

Somae Gaksi (Young Lady)

Somae Gaksi is a young and beautiful woman but her character has a tempting disposition. She seduces Yangban Gwangdae while they play together and finally Yangban Gwangdae falls into the subject of satire. Somae mans a little plum, which is the name of the young lady, and Gakssi is a word representing the female.

Sisi (hush hush) Ttakttagi

Sisi means hush hush, the sound for chasing away evil spirits. Ttakttagi is the term representing dancers of the mask dance, and they are the characters for chasing away evils. Their faces have knife scars and the wooden mask painted with 5 colors that will frighten women. Moreover, dancing with a sword in their hands of course invokes terror. According to the historical research, Sisi Ttakttagi performed wearing a scary mask so that there would be no measles or small pox in summer of Dano.

Jangja Mari

Jagja Mari is not only a unique name, but also unique in appearance. It is the only character in the mask dance that doesn't wear a mask; instead he wears gunny sack-like hemp clothes. With only eyes and ears visible, his whole body is covered with a seaweed and strange cloth outfit over a bamboo hoop to make him look fat. The core of Jangja Mari's dramatic content is humorous action, impersonation, and characature through his uncanny seaweed-strung outfit. His performances are where the audience most frequently guffaws.

Musicians

Korean masks dances are different from western ones in regard to point of view and the musicians who surround the play's arena and who sometimes function as characters in the play itself. In the episodes, they sometimes lead the excitement, apply exclamations, and provoke humor to purposefully delight the audience. In the present times, however, the farmers are center arena with percussion instruments played by a peasant band on the outer edge. In ancient times, the musical performers were shaman and music players, not the peasants themselves.

STAGE DETAILS

Scene 1 : The Entrance of Jangja Mari

Two Jangja maris start the opening performance of the mask dance. They stir up dust noisily, stick out their bulging stomachs, run circularly to widen the arena, sometimes teasing the audience by making people sit in and even dance simulated sex appealing acts.

Scene 2 : Love betwist Yangban Gwangdae and Somae Gaksi

While Yangban Gwangdae appears decent and shows a dignified manner, he comes closer and courts Somae Gaksi. Somae Gaksi is werig a graceful mask, yellow vest and red skirts dancing shyly and demurely. At first she refuses Yangban Gwangdae's courtship but after getting to know each other they start going around the place with both arms around each other's shoulders, expressing their affection.

Scene 3 : Interruption of Sisi Ttakttagi

Two Sisi Ttakttagis, wearing horrible masks, run in from opposite sides, dancing wide-sweeping sword dances. They are jealous of the love between Yangban Gwangdae and Somae Gaksi, they interrupt and imitate them, sometimes they push and pull them until they separate them. Separated, one Sisi Ttakttagi teases Yangban Gwangdae and the other teases Somae Gaksi. The one teasing Somae Gaksi wants to dance with her but she stubbornly refuses until finally forced whereupon Yangban Gwangdae sees and becomes both angry and lovesick.

 Scene 4 : Somae Gaksi Attempts Suicide
At last, furious Yangban Gwangdae pushes back Sisi Ttakttagi and pulls Somae Gaksi away. Although Somae Gaksi asks for forgiveness, Yangban Gwangdae still continues to berate her, and so to prove her innocence, Somae Gaksi attempts suicide. But to kill herself, she does so by hanging herself by Yangban Gwangdae's long beard, a humorous satire of pulling the beard which represents authority. Her virtue vs. the virtue of his authority. The satire of proving one's innocence through a death ritual has its comic effects.

Scene 5 : Reconciliation of Yangban Gwangdae and Somae Gaksi
The intention of Somae Gaksi's suicide is to prove her innocence, provoke Yangban Gwangdae's kindness to be comical and to vanish misunderstandings. The play ends with the reconciliation with themselves and ultimately with the community. The muscians, performers and audience start to dance together and embody the feast's spirit of reconciliation and harmony.

The above pictures and synopsis of the mask drama enactment was taken from a brochure picked up at a museum in Gangneung from a previous visit to seaside city, which is proud for their mask dance festival and which attracts many visitors every year.