포스트서사극시대 우리 전통극의 새로운 가능성

Abstract

This paper aims to suggest the possibilities of Korean traditional theatre as a post-epic theatre. Conventionally, Korean traditional theatres including Pansori and Changguk have been performed very realistically on stage. Also audiences have usually been confined to the middle-aged and the elders. In recent years, however, a welcoming upheaval is being witnessed in the Korean theatrical field. The most notable one is the change of The National Changguk Company of Korea. As they reinterpret Changguk, which has been public-friendly, with a modern perspective, it begins to appeal to younger people and even creates manias. The newly emerging interest in Korean traditional theatre is not irrelevant to the recent post-epic theatrical discourse in Germany and other European countries. The Key factors of the post-epic theatrical theory including German narrative theatre are the mutual communication structure and the function of actors as storytellers that break the fourth wall . Likewise, Korean traditional theatre, which is contrary to the representative verbal performance, is based on the playful performativity that a Chang-singer moves back and forth between his playing a role and communicating with audiences. Furthermore, along with exhilaration (Sinmyoung in Korean), which is harmonized with rejoinders (Chuimsae in Korean) of audience and a drummer (Gosu in Korean), Korean traditional theatre can obtain more dynamic effects of collective amusement and awareness than existing Occidental Epic theatre. Bertolt Brecht designed the epic theatre theory for the "drama of the era of science and technology." However, in spite of a great number of his directions and efforts for "Versuch" (meaning attempt) based on "Berliner Ensemble", he couldn't have his theory achieved on stages. It's time for us to search for the new possibilities to realize "the theatre of the future" which Brecht sought for. And, of course, this attempt can start in earnest with the Korean traditional theatre itself.