셰익스피어 공연에서 ‘정치적인 것’의 부상 —관객의 참여를 유도하는 또 하나의 방식

Abstract

This thesis aims at grasping how ‘the political’ emerges in three modern adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays and what the roles of ‘the political’ in each adaptations are. The pursuit of this article is to explore how these Ophelia, GoraeHamlet, and Hamlet’s Father are different from Shakespeare’s works and how these differences manifest ‘the political’. ‘The political’ is, in short, redefining and reassigning the position and the role of the characters and the plot. Such redefinition reveals subtextual meanings, ones that are unheard and unseen in the original plays. Ultimately, ‘the political’ unravels the voices of the unheard and the unseen in order to reveal the questions they raise. The voices of many of these minor characters are left unheard in Shakespeare’s originals. Modern directors reveal ‘the political’ in order to share with the world the themes that these characters present. Furthermore, ‘the political’ induces questions from the audience for the changed and improved society, in this way, these three modern adaptations become the sites of disagreements among audience members because the nature of ‘the political’ is non-consensus. Ophelia directed by Jeon Yonghwan and GoraeHamlet directed by Lee Haesung are the works that are representatives of catching the voices of the unheard and the unseen. Jeon’s Ophelia differs quite a bit from Shakespeare’s Ophelia in that she is not obedient, not dependent. This new Ophelia is one who raises an existential question about herself, and is dangerous, and power-oriented. Furthermore, she wants to know the inward reflections of Hamlet, and she is anxious to ask what the problems and conflicts of Hamlet are. Lee’s Gertrude is power-oriented in that she hides the fact that the real father of Hamlet is Claudius and later confesses it to Claudius to save Hamlet’s life. The reason she marries Claudius is that she seeks to defend and protect Hamlet from his enemies. This Ophelia and this Gertrude function as new voices which are not represented in Shakespeare’s work. Therefore, they are representatives of the newly heard and the audience can witness the voices of the neglected. Hamlet’s Father by Lee Sungreol induces the audience to ‘ponder’ the duty and role of responsible beings in a modern Korean society. The performance just presents several situations, encouraging the audience to rethink what should be done rather than claiming any stance itself. Therefore, many situations in the performance become the sites of contention to think over so that the audience is persuaded to answer himself the questions raised in the performance. ‘The political’ means to extract questions from the audience to force them to rethink over the situations in their lives and in the world around them. In this manner, these three performances become excellent examples of what ‘the political’ is.