(Note: This is a draft mostly written in the late summer of 2019, then lying dormant for several years. Now, in 2024, it may serve as a glimpse into pre-pandemic life in the countryside, which hasn’t changed that much, after all.)
Summer is a two-sided sword for friends of theatre. On the one hand, it is festival season. On the other hand, most regular theatres are taking a well-earned break. In Seoul, there are still some things going on in smaller places, but the heat and humidity in August, day and night, makes every step outside a struggle. (The similar small number of performances in January and February is related more to the calendars of public funding than the weather, I believe.)
In the countryside, things are different. The air is better, the evenings fresher, and performances – well, not that easy to find. This year, having returned from IFTR in Shanghai (see my report), I spent late July and August, until the start of the new semester, in Gangwon-do, more specifically in Hongcheon County (홍천군). Two hours away from Seoul, I was reading, writing, editing, pulling grass, and preparing for this year’s pink factory art program, interrupted only by the occasional trip to a nearby temple, the local cinema, or a waterfall in the woods.
There were only a few opportunities to see live music and theatre in the region, five to be exact, and these were quite diverse in content and context. In the following, I will briefly compare these provincial performances, as a way to wrap up the summer, and share a few thoughts on art in the province. (For a list with performance details in Korean, see below.)
1. The Everyone Orchestra
Coming to town to buy some food in late July, we ran into this event by chance, as it turned out to be “citizens’ day” (군민의 날, not to be confused with “soldiers’ day”, 군인의 날!). One of the main streets in Hongcheon was blocked by the police and we could see a stage erected across the road. Later we had a closer look at what was going on: some trot singers warming up the audience. We stayed for the speeches by local politicians, but finally, just as the actual event was about to begin, we had to go, unfortunately. For this year’s citizens day, one thousand citizens of Hongcheon had practised to perform together as a huge orchestra! I couldn’t count, but if the number is true, this is quite a lot — given that the whole county of Hongcheon (홍천군) has about 70,000 inhabitants. There was some press coverage (see Hongcheon News, in Korean), but I could not find a video (except for the warming-up show). I would have loved to hear this experiment, which sounds like community art at its best, a low-level project where virtually everyone can participate.
2. Two Sisters from Seoul
The next opportunity to see a show was two weeks later. Production Domo (문화프로덕션도모) presented a (slightly shortened) adaptation of Jean Genet’s The Maids (Les Bonnes, 하녀들, 연출: 황운기, 출연: 이지현, 원소연). This was a one-time event at the Hongcheon Arts and Culture Center, and while there was no entrance fee I had called earlier to make reservations, right after seeing the information on a banner and then checking the website of the Hongcheon Cultural Foundation (홍천문화재단), one of the sponsors. The auditorium is relatively large and some empty seats remained, but the audience was larger than I expected, also including middle school (?) students and soldiers who had been driven in from nearby camps.
The play was on tour this summer, part of a program called “Culture Sympathy Everywhere” (방방곡곡 문화공감). This is one of several support programs that bring performing arts to schools, retirement homes, or culture centers outside of Seoul, sometimes even to the countryside. (Another program of this sort is “Exciting Arts Tour” 신나는 예술여행 that regularly features pansori performances.) The Maids, for instance, was also shown in Hoengseong, a neighboring county, as well as Gangneung, a city on the Eastern coast of Gangwon-do. It seems that in the case of The Maids the play was made with touring in mind and the director (or the producer?) who introduced the performance mentioned that they had been at the Edinburgh Festival. [Interestingly, another Korean production of The Maids, by MOO SOO Theatre group, was shown at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023, see a review by Marianna Meloni.] It also turned out that he himself was born in Hongcheon — in this sense a truly glocal stage!
3. Let There Be Rock
A few days later we attended the last day of the newly inaugurated Gangwon Rock Festival, thanks to tickets won on the long-time radio show “Bae Cheol-su’s Music Camp” (배철수 음악캠프, everyday at 6pm on MBC 4U, 91.9 FM). As noted in a preview article, the festival, held in Inje County (인제군), next to Hongcheon, was meant “to revive and boost up our rock music,” with Korean bands as headliners supported by international acts (see a Korea Times article from Aug. 15, 2019)
And so it was. When we arrived in the early afternoon, the party was already in full fledge. Despite the strong sunshine that flooded the open soccer field, a group of fans wielding long flags were dancing while the Japanese band 04 Limited Sazabys rocked the stage. Apart from lights and smoke, the heat was somewhat helped by occasional bursts of water from a line of canons installed in front of the stage.
The acts switched between two venues, the stadium and the adjacent gymnasium. We stayed mostly outside, spread out a picnic blanket, and had a beer in-between. The next band, Namba69, was also from Japan, some classic punk-metal, followed by some ska by Hey-Smith. It was great to see the Japanese musicians engage with the audience, greeting them in Korean and stressing that the ongoing tradewars should not spoil the music. To paraphrase one of the singers: “We’re here to rock!”
After dinner in town, we returned for the evening acts, first the Scandinavian metal-oldies of Stratovarius. Now that it was dark, the light show, the fireworks, and the stage fog did their job. The Korean band YB, headed by singer Yoon Do-hyun (윤도현), finished the day and the festival. This video gives an impression of the atmosphere:
4. Trot and Tradition from Next Door
We found out about the “One Summer’s Night Seonbi Concert” thanks to a banner we saw in town a few days before. On this Monday, as the sun set, a few dozen people — mostly elderly and kids — had gathered at Hongcheon’s Hyanggyo (향교). Originally a place for the study and ceremonial, seasonal praise of Confucianism by “seonbi” (선비), classical scholars, now a small stage had been erected in front and some rows of plastic chairs invited the audience. When we arrived, local trot singer Lee Jin (이진) was in the middle of some pre-show entertainment. Program sheets were provided on each seat, plus a fan with advertisement for the singer (who sells glasses by day). The program was quite diverse and less traditional than the title suggested: First, six children dressed in hanbok who sang different versions of “Arirang”, accompanied by their teacher, Kim Ok-sun (김옥순). Then several traditional groups (all women), with gayageum byeongchang, more folk songs, and pansori. The pansori performance — the wonderful danga “Sacheol-ga” (Song of the Four Seasons) — was the highlight of the evening and quite peculiar, with Kim Ok-sun and two of her students (I presume) playing together, each self-accompanying herself on the drum. In pansori it is usually one drummer and one singer but sometimes, when lacking a drummer, singers accompany themselves, play drum and sing at the same time. I had never seen a trio like this one, though. Interestingly, there were not many reactions from the audience.
The second part of the show consisted of local trot singers performing playback, first self-appointed “in’gi gasu” Lee Jin, whom we had heard before, then Won Gyeong-mi (원경미), a younger female singer. Both walked among the audience at one point or another, shaking hands, and some kids (and even an elderly man) danced in front of the stage. This were clearly the performances with the most popular appeal. The concert closed with a saxophone orchestra.
5. A Literary Drama
Rather spontaneous we went to Hoengseong (횡성군), another neighboring county, to see a pansori-theatre piece about an episode from colonial history. Yujeong-ae-ga (유정애가), literally “Yujeong’s Love Song” (裕貞愛歌) or, depending on the reading of the underlying Chinese characters, “Yujeong’s Sad Song” (裕貞哀歌), focuses on the odd relationship between Kim Yujeong (김유정, 1908–37), a modernist writer from Chuncheon, another city in Gangwon-do, and the famous pansori master singer Pak Nokju (박녹주), with other writers of that era, such as Yi Sang (이상, 1910–37), aka Kim Hae-gyeong (김해경, his birth name) as supporting characters. These are relatively well-known historical characters, but the anti-romantic plot is, as a projection announces, “30% fact and 70% fiction”. Yujeong falls in love after seeing Pak Nokju perform and starts stalking her, without much success but much irritation on part of his colleagues and drummer Cheon (천고수), confidant of the master singer. And thus the love story, failed to doom, evolves…
The performance, while sparkling with popular elements (tap dance, gags etc.), also featured quite a lot of pansori singing, sometimes as performance-in-performance. In fact, the ongoing complication between on- and off-stage music was a very interesting aspect of this performance. At one point, the “drummer” came towards the audience to borrow a drum from the (off-stage) drummer who was sitting with the other musicians in the first row. I knew the on-stage drummer by reputation, it was Lee Il-gyu (이일규, bowing on the photo below), a member of the legendary Ttorang Gwangdae (또랑 광대). This group, active in the early 2000s, had created new pansori pieces based on real life for contemporary audiences (see their manifesto).
While vastly different, these five performances had one thing in common: I attended them all for free (in the case of the Gangwon Rock Festival by chance). This is not uncommon even for gugak performances in Seoul, but all in all it seems that rural performance is in search of an audience. Some events respond by bringing music to the people, so to speak. [Pink Factory’s street theatre project “Granny’s Distant Place”, a collaboration that took place the following year, would essentially do the same. And mime Yu Jin Gyu would perform a Corona release ritual right in Hongcheon’s Central Market in 2021 as part of the Gangwon Triennale]
From touring theatre to concerts by local artists, the dynamics of movement are important to all these events. They are all, in a way, inward-bound, though. The Rock Festival is meant to bring tourists to Gangwon-do, theatre that has been shown abroad is meant to draw in local crowds – and if in doubt, soldiers from the many nearby camps are sent, too. Whether artsy or popular, touristic or rooted in local communities, the performances demonstrate both the diversity of efforts to establish a cultural life in the province, but also show their limits.
There is an occasional theatre performance at Hongcheon Art and Culture Center (plus magic, concerts, and other events), trot star Lee Jin keeps on singing, and Kim Ok-sun sang pansori last year for Pink Factory’s “Hongcheon Crossing” exhibition opening. The Gangwon Rock Festival’s webpage linked above, for instance, is down. But then again, I haven’t spend as much time there as I did during the high tides of the pandemic but hope to return this summer for an extended stay, including some performances…
Suggested reading: A Masters thesis by Hur Ju Mi (허주미, 동국대학교 2018; in Korean) on ensemble Tuida (공연창작집단 뛰다), a theatre group based in nearby Hwacheon County (화천군). I wrote on their production “Hamlet Cantabile” a while ago and they seem to continue performing in Hwacheon County, as well as elsewhere.
— 27 July; 14, 18, 26, 31 Aug. 2019 (土 水 日 月 土)
- 1000人 홍천 Festival, 홍천 읍내, 2019년 7월 27일 (토) 오후.
1000 Persons Hongcheon Festival, Hongcheon Town, July 27, 2019 (Sat.). - 하녀들, 홍천예술문화회관, 2019년 8월 14일 (수), 오후 7시반, 원작: 장 주네, 각색/연출: 황운기, 출연: 이지현, 원소연.
Hanyeo-deul [The Maids] (Hongcheon Yesul Munhwa Hoegwan [Hongcheon Art and Culture Center], Aug. 14, 2019 (Wed.). - 강원 락 페스티벌, 인제 잔디구장 및 소양강변 일대, 2019년 8월 16~18일 (금~일).
Gangwon Rock Festival, Inje-gun, Aug. 16–18, 2019 (Fri.–Sun.). - 한 여름밤의 선비 음악회, 홍천 향교, 2019년 8월 26일, 오후 7시 (월).
Han Yeoreumbam-ui Seonbi-Eumak-hoe [One Summer’s Night Seonbi Concert] (Hongcheon Hyanggyo, Aug. 26, 2019) - 유정애가, 횡성문화예술회관, 2019년 8월 31일 (토), 오후 6시, 작/연출: 장태준, 출연: 김지희, 이일규, 정수석, 장학철, 윤국중, 제작: 예술단 농음.
Yujeong-ae-ga [Yujeong’s Love Song] (Hoengseong Yesul Munhwa Hoegwan [Hoengseong Art and Culture Center], Aug. 31, 2019)
Seoul Stages 