1950년대 여성국극의 대중극으로서의 가치

Abstract

The play is produced for the target audience. The play writer writes plays intended for the audience while the director is aware of communications with the audience, and the actors and actresses act on-site while keeping in tune with the audience. The play is notably completed by the audience. Popular plays have these tendencies further emphasized and were produced and performed with people’s desires, tastes and preferences, and the preferred methods of expressions taken into account. This study has focused on the value of Yeoseong Gukgeuk as a popular play. The reason why Yeoseong Gukgeuk is shown to have the melodrama structure with historical facts as subject matters is due to the inherent nature of the play that requires the audience’s immediate sympathy and understanding. Yeoseong Gukgeuk in the 1950s enjoyed the smash hit as a popular play as it presented a number of exceptional features, including actress disguised as a man, collaborations among performance artists with extensive experiences accumulated while crossing over genres and spectacular innovations. This study has summarized three historical meanings and implications of Yeoseong Gukgeuk that basked in its renaissance in the 1950s. First, Yeoseong Gukgeuk served a refuge from the dark reality with overwhelming burden of responsibility and comforted the people. Second, it provided an opportunity for 'women' to emerge as key players in production and consumption of performances. Lastly, it has confirmed its potential as a Korean musical that communicates with the public in the contemporary time.