Bridge to Korean Performing Arts!

Pansori at the International Theatre Festival KONTAKT In Toru?

By Andrzej Churski , deputy director The Wilam Horzyca Theatre and ITF Kontakt 

In 2009 in Seoul, when I was watching the theatrical offer of PAMS, I did not know whether I would be able to invite any Korean theatre to Poland. I knew however that one of the groups worth my interest was Pansori Project ‘ZA’. Mostly because of the excellent vocal and acting technique of Jaram Lee – the script author and composer of the project “Pansori Brecht”. The perfect contact established between the actress and the audience by dint of the stylish pansori and her sense of humour made me believe that it will happen also in Europe. The way the story was told, the way the stage was used and the distance towards characters, so typical for Brecht, indicated that the performance “Pansori Brecht – Sacheon-Ga” will also be perceived as an example of the theatre directed and performed according to the present-day requirements.

We were only concerned about the duration of the performance: the unknown form in addition to the foreign language lasting for more than two hours could be the cultural obstacle, difficult to overcome and the major complication in perception of the play. However, after negotiations we managed to discuss some minor shortenings.

The International Theatre Festival KONTAKT takes place in Toru?, a relatively small town with only one big theatre stage. In order to present several performances within seven days, we build stages and audience areas using the venues which are not typically destined for theatre purposes. The Korean theatre was supposed to perform in the sport hall where we presented also the National Old Theatre from Krakow, as well as a theatre from Hungary and the German Rimini Protokoll. The preparations of the stage took nearly twenty four hours. Pansori Project ZA used this time completely. Our local technical team together with Korean theatre put a lot of effort to create the final effect, as much similar to the original as possible. It turned out however that the set of lights used in this performance was a lot heavier than expected and our construction barely supported it.

The Wednesday afternoon on the 26^th of May was warm and for me also very exciting. To the very end I was not sure how the audience will react to the Korean show. And finally, when Jaram Lee begun her performance, telling about the pansori style, the people listened attentively. When she welcomed the spectators with the words “good afternoon” in Polish (“dzie? dobry”), people reacted with applause. And finally, when she informed everyone that they could reward and encourage the artists by a special shouts, she evoked curiosity. All the people were enjoying the unknown sounds of Korean language, which seemed as actual music in mouth of Jaram Lee. Learning of Korean verbal sounds of encouragement pleased the audience but afterwards these words were rarely and timidly expressed. It seemed that the European public remains cold and insensible to the nuances of the performances (language barrier was broken by the simultaneous translation).

After the first part the audience was evidently divided. In the second part Jaram Lee managed to gain the sympathy of most people. She convinced them not only by her technique of playing but also by her auto ironical attitude on stage, strong personal involvement and jokes about the European theatre tradition (after almost two and a half hours she said that the performance is so long because of Brecht himself). Jaram Lee and the whole ensemble were rewarded with loud applause.

One of the festival Kontakt traditions are the meetings of performers and directors taking place late in the evening. In Woo Nam (the director) and Jaram Lee were answering questions about pansori, their interests in Brecht, the way their theatre was functioning. The situation from the performance was repeated: everyone was fascinated by the melody of language of Jaram Lee. The professional theatre experts invited to Toru? claimed that the most interesting thing in the performance was the traditional Korean element. Less interesting were the things not related to the culture of this country. Most of the critics were impressed by the acting and vocal technique. The regular audience liked the elements that reminded to European culture (for instance melodies in European sound scale, simple rhythms like the beautiful lullaby from the second part). 

 The artistry of Jaram Lee was appreciated by the jury who awarded to her the prize for the best actress of the festival Kontakt. The funder of this prize is a local daily “Nowo?ci” and the prize itself (small amount of money) comes also with a bronze replica of the famous symbol of Toru? – gingerbread formed in a shape of carriage of gold. It shall drive Jaram Lee whenever the public will appreciate her talent.

Andrzej Churski,
deputy director The Wilam Horzyca Theatre and ITF Kontakt,

Festival KONTAKT, organized by Wilam Horzyca Theatre in Toru? since 1991, was the first one after régime transformation in Poland, but also the first international meeting In Central and Eastern Europe, confronting the theatre ensembles from East and West. Among our guest, we also had companies from Asia, including Korea. The importance of festival depends on artistic value of presented performances. KONTAKT festival was a turning point in career of many, nowadays renowned, theatre directors from Eastern parts of Europe. This also concerns Polish performance for which KONTAKT festival for many years has been a promotional window to the world. In May 2010 our festival celebrated its 20^th anniversary. We showed the latest achievements of a few most recognized laureates of previous editions. Among them there were Alvis Hermanis, Thomas Ostermeier, Jerzy Jarocki, Rimas Tuminas. Among the theatres presented in Toru? this year were RO Theater from Rotterdam, Vakhtangov Theater from Moscow, Schaubuhne am Lehniner Platz from Berlin, National Theatres from Warsaw and Kraków in Poland, Rimini Protokoll (Germany), New Theater in Riga (Latvia).