The Leeds Playhouse – until 11th March
Reviewed by Dawn Smallwood
4****
Jaha Koo’s The History of Korean Theatre is part of the Transform 21 22 Festival which proudly engineers powerful performances. Transform is reputedly renowned for boldly, bravely, and vividly creating and recreating performances aiming to make everyone politically and socially conscious. They aren’t afraid of not following traditional and stereotypical conventions and encourages one to question the existing ones.
The History of Korean Western Theatre, part of Koo’s Hamartia trilogy, addresses exactly these issues. Based on the centenary of Korean Theatre’s in 2008, Koo questions how theatre is perceived in the country, how it has been heavily relied on Imperial and Western cultures and traditions, and how much these have influenced the theatrical canons. Koo questions how people rely on Western Culture such as Shakespeare rather than its Korean ancestors and its rich culture.
The performance is multimedia with eye catching and thought-provoking moving visuals in the background and Koo, a South Korean filmmaker, explores and documents deeply his personal journey. He questions how the country’s theatrical traditions amid a turbulent social and political landscape have influenced over the past 100 years. There are some good usages of props that intertwine and communicate with Koo with the everyday life, past and present while addressing the issue.
The temptation to dwell and rely heavily on embedded perceptions and censorships in the past is shifted to contemporary and openness. This looks into the future how the new generation can move Korean theatre forward into the 21st Century.
This 60-minute performance is well put together and encourages one to think widely the definition and perception of theatre where definitive answers aren’t the options.