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Puppet performance on stage

This was the very first puppet show I had the opportunity to see in South Korea! As guests of UNIMA, we were given prime seats to an evening performance at the Chuncheon World Puppetry Theater, located next to the Chuncheon Puppet Museum. Chuncheon hosted its first puppet festival in 1989 and has since grown into an important presence on the international puppet stage.

 

Mr. Park (sometimes written Pak, or Bak) is the quintessential Korean puppet- think more influential and far older in tradition than Kermit is for American audiences. The term Kkoktugaksi Noreum (꼭두각시 놀음), literally “the puppet wife’s play,” refers both to this specific tale and, more broadly, to Korean puppet theater. The story follows old man Park as he brings home a young bride, angering his wife and setting off a series of comic misadventures.

This production struck a balance between tradition and innovation. Five puppeteers rotated through characters on stage, while musicians played traditional folk music and occasionally bantered with Mr. Park. The show opened with a life-size puppet of Mr. Park, but soon shifted into mask work and a wide variety of puppetry styles. Alongside the classic Korean deolmi figures (whose simplified shoulders and arms are animated by a single string) the troupe introduced hanji (handmade paper) puppets and even puppets influenced by Japan’s bunraku. The rhythmic, limited movements of the deolmi harmonized with the janggu (Korean drum), as the characters bounced side to side and flung their arms up in exasperation. The energy was high throughout; the director clearly aimed to create a visual spectacle that could match the pace of contemporary children’s entertainment.

Historically, this puppet play is the final act of the Namsadang (남사당), a six-part traveling circus performance. The puppet play itself contains eleven scenes, including shamanic rituals and satire of Buddhist monks and the aristocratic class.

As with many international festival productions, language was a variable- sometimes there were subtitles, sometimes a variety of spoken languages, sometimes performances were nonverbal. The Korean Traditional Performing Arts Troupe performed entirely in Korean, which I do not speak. Having prior knowledge of Kkoktugaksi, I could follow the overall structure of the scenes but not the finer points of dialogue. Still, the humor, rhythm, and theatricality spoke across cultures. Over the course of the show, we witnessed a sea serpent battle, the burial of a nobleman, flirtations between monks and maidens, and the rise and fall of a Buddhist temple. Children in the audience laughed and sang along, while seasoned puppetry enthusiasts appreciated a contemporary remix of centuries-old storytelling tradition.

Further Reading/References:

 

Author

Phil Jasen, Assistant Professor at Alabama State University (ASU) 
Instagram  Personal website

Hello, I am Phil Jasen—artist, educator, and puppeteer. I teach visual art at Alabama State University and was fortunate this past summer to travel to Chuncheon and Seoul. In Chuncheon, I participated in UNIMA’s (International Puppetry Association) World Congress and attended many performances connected to Chuncheon’s World Puppet Festival. I then traveled to Seoul, where I joined a workshop building a deolmi (traditional Korean wooden puppet) with master puppet builder and performer Eum Dae-jin, while also taking part in demonstrations of Korean puppet circus arts including dancing, drumming, and singing. Here I’ll be recapping Korean performances I saw at Chuncheon’s World Puppet Festival to share both the traditional and innovative work coming out of this part of the world. Feel free to reach out with questions or for extra details on my experience.

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