≪억척어멈과 그 자식들≫: 두 공연의 형해(形骸)로부터 건져낸 변증법적 연극논리와 양식성에 대한 소고

Abstract

A Brief Consideration to Dialectical Theory and Stylization from Two Productions of ≪Mother Courage and Her Children≫ In remembrance of 50th years of Brecht's death, two productions of ≪Mother Courage and Her Children≫ were, almost simultaneously, staged in Seoul. One directed and revised by Lee, Yoon-tack, was set in Korean Civil War for three years. While he kept the original text's structures, plots and characters, added and embellished them with elements of Korean traditional entertainments and their aesthetics. Another one directed by kim, Kwang-bo achieved, at least superficially, orthodox theatricality of Brecht's theatre, in terms of dramatic atmosphere, vitality, rhythm and energy etc. Both of them attempted to execute Brecht's theories of dialectical theatre as well as his performing methods as a good model. This thesis examines particularly, their ideological themes and epic effects extracted from both performances. Lee, Yoon-tack's production, although creatively constructed with self-consciousness of Korea, left some significant questions about revision of the original text. They include the followings; how a production can achieve universality of socio-political ideology without losing cultural specificity; what we can do for grafting treasurable conventional artistic sources to sensibility of the zeit-geist of ours. Comparatively, for Kim, Kwang-bo's, the problem of effective use of a performing space is left behind to be solved, even if his understanding of the epic essence seems in deep. Both productions certainly contribute to build Brechtian theatre methodology, but its social intervening quality as an alternative theatre, seems to be weakened. Remaining questions of performing Brecht will be not only the form itself, but the ideas and spirits melting in the form that should be linked to contemporary society.