The History of Korean Western Theatre

creation and direction Jaha Koo

##general.period##:: 01/29 - 30 2022
##general.room##:: Montjuïc. Sala Fabià Puigserver

Timetable

21:00

Running time

1 h

Place

Sala Fabià Puigserver

Language

In Korean and English languages subtitled in Catalan

Price

€9 to €29 / Katharsis subscription €39 (3 tickets)

Accessibility

Hearing assistance via mobile phone

South Korean theatre maker, videographer and composer Jaha Koo presents The Hamartia Trilogy in the Katharsis 2022 context. In Greek, hamartia means tragic flaw or shortcoming, a concept that Koo has interwoven into completely different guises throughout his three performances Lolling & Rolling, Cuckoo and The History of Korean Western Theatre.

In the trilogy, the far-reaching imperialism of the past and present, and its sometimes unexpected personal impact, are the common thread. In his intelligent and haunting documentary theatre performances, Jaha Koo intertwines personal stories with historical, political and sociological facts. Often themes that entail a clash of Eastern and Western culture: from the cutting of tongue belts to make it in the West, to the heavy personal toll of Western interference in the macroeconomic field.

The performances can also be enjoyed individually.

Celebrating the centenary of Korean theatre in 2008, the South Korean theatre maker / composer Jaha Koo realized that there is actually no space for Korean theatre tradition: what is regarded as Korean theatre is largely determined by the Western canon. But why are the South Koreans so proud of this Western interpretation? And why does everyone keep referring to Shakespeare? It raises questions about tradition, self-censorship and authenticity.
In this final piece of his Hamartia trilogy, Jaha Koo resolutely focuses on the future. Meticulously, he exposes the tragic impact of the past on our lives, unveiling the small cracks in modern Confucianism - an ideology that continues to define the moral system, way of life and social relations between generations in South Korea. With a new generation of South Koreans in mind, he attempts to break with a tradition full of self-censorship and keeping up appearances. Because only when based on an authentic version of history, he can pass on a future to the next generation.

What defines us? That is the question that is the focus of the 2022 edition of Katharsis, always associated with the origins of this special programme, in which we constantly ask ourselves what theatre is. Asking it ourselves means asking ourselves what we are as human beings and citizens. The boundaries that surround us create forms that define us politically, humanly, socially, culturally or artistically, even though we do not like some definitions, and we look for ways to change them from the fringes. This Katharsis features artists who use history, collective memory and even appearance to cross lines that make us rethink where we come from and where we are going.

Schedule

PERFORMERS

Jaha Koo

Seri

Toad

VIDEO AND MUSIC

Jaha Koo

DRAMATURGY

Dries Douibi

SETTING AND DRAWING

Eunkyung Jeong

ARTISTIC ADVISOR

Pol Heyvaert

HARDWARE HACKING

Idella Craddock

RESEARCH

Eunkyung Jeong and Jaha Koo

INTERVIEW

Jooyoung Koh, Kiran Kim and Kyungmi Lee

RESEARCH ASSISTANCE

Sang Ok Kim

TECHNICAL

Korneel Coessens, Koen Goossens, Jan Berckmans and Bart Huybrechts

PRODUCTION

CAMPO

CO-PRODUCED BY

Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Münchner Kammerspiele, Frascati Producties (Amsterdam), Veem House for Performance (Amsterdam), SPRING performing arts festival (Utrecht), Zürcher Theaterspektakel, Black Box teater (Oslo), International Summer Festival Kampnagel (Hamburg), Tanzquartier Wien, wpZimmer (Antwerp), Théâtre de la Bastille (Paris) and Festival d’Automne à Paris