“Lady Macbeth”, a special musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy “Macbeth”, sang in pansori, a form of traditional storytelling with music (판소리) and jeongga, a genre of traditional Korean song (정가, 正歌) will be performed from Dec. 21 to 30 at the National Gugak Center.
The show begins with the royal physician putting Lady Macbeth under hypnosis in a bid to cure her sleepwalking which developed after she encouraged her husband to take the throne in an immoral way. The guilt-ridden couple suffers from hallucinations, until they finally destroy themselves.
The actors of “Lady Macbeth” express their roles with realistic movements to perfection.
“From long ago, I thought that the strong themes and implicative lines of Lady Macbeth would go well with chang, traditional Korean songs (창, 唱),” said Han Tae-sook, the director of the musical play. “Whenever I heard the songs of the play from the rehearsal, I thought, ‘Nothing beats chang in expressing grief.’” she added.
A special feature of “Lady Macbeth” is dochang, a theatrical device that plays the role of narrator but also melts into the story with other characters.
For the sake of simplicity, only five actors and four musicians are involved in creating the performance, unique marriage of Korean traditional music and westernized tones. The pictures, drawn by the actors using their bodies and a coal-based paint on 5-meter long panels, add volume to the songs.
Also, the acoustics of Umyeon-dang, the theater showing the performance, allows the sound to reach the seats without the use of microphones and speakers. The audience is expected to be able to hear the undistorted sound, directly from the actors.
“I believe that the arrangement of a universal classic like ‘Macbeth’ is a good opportunity for gugak, traditional Korean music (국악, 國樂), to expand its ground, home and abroad,” said Kim Haesook, Director-General of the National Gugak Center. “I wish this musical play will allow the worldwide gugak audience to bond and sympathize,” she added.
Musical play “Lady Macbeth” will be performed at 8 p.m. on weekdays and at 5 p.m. on weekends. More information can be found by clicking on the link below.
http://www.gugak.go.kr/site/main/index002
By Kim Young Shin
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photo: The National Gugak Center
ysk1111@korea.kr
