The History of Korean Western Theatre by Jaha Koo (review)

Abstract

In the summer of 2021, shortly after Europe lifted its travel ban and accepted visitors from the United States, I traveled to Switzerland to see Jaha Koo’sThe History of KoreanWestern Theatre. While still in themidst of the coronavirus pandemic, the Zürcher Theater Spektakel—the annual international theatre festival held on the shores of Lake Zurich—was buzzing with excitement at the return of live theatre. When I entered the theatre (Rote Fabrik) on the opening night of the festival, Jaha Koo was already on stage folding an origami toad with great dexterity as the audience settled into their seats. Later in the show, the audience discovered that this paper origami toad turns into a robot-like moving puppet that is listening, talking, and singing on stage and that symbolizes the younger generation. Another unique object-performer is a talking rice cooker hacked and reprogrammed to be chatty and emotive. Rather than following the forms of theatrical representation, Koo’s dramaturgy of performing with object-performers, as well as his extensive use of multimedia (images, videos, and music), define his signature style (Fig. 1). Although the title of the show had a documentary feel and the production used some rich archival photos and footage related to historic events, the production does not specifically encompass the history of Korean theatre nor was it intended