By Lee Hwan-hee
Staff Reporter
The Inaugural International Festival of National Theaters will be held from Sept. 8 through Oct. 27. The festival will feature five international productions from different countries and five productions from Korea, as well as four joint productions between foreign theater companies and domestic ones. The National Theater of Korea is the sponsor of the event.
In a press conference Tuesday, the president of the National Theater of Korea, Shin Sun-hi, stated that it is a high time to export Korea's more traditional cultural products, in the light of the current "hallyu" boom, as well as to absorb the cultures of other countries around the world, in their original form.
Prof. Kang Choon-ae of Dongguk University, who is a member of the festival's organizing committee, stated "there are a lot of smaller theater festivals that are already flourishing in Korea. What we intend to do is to facilitate interactions between cultures and artists on an international level.
The productions to be performed form an eclectic mixture of nations and styles: National Theater of Greece will perform, appropriately, "Electra," by Sophocles. It will be directed by renowned German theater director Peter Stein. This theater company also visited Korea during the 1988 Olympics and performed "Oedipus the King" here.
Shakespeare's Globe Theater, based in England, will perform "Love's Labour's Lost"
The National Theater of Turkey will perform Oscar Wilde's "Salome," and The National Peking Opera of China will perform "The Legend of White Snake."
A somewhat more exotic fare will be performed by India's Sopanam Group, which is called "Maya and Karnabharam." It is based on sections from the Indian epic poem "Ramayana."
The Korean productions will include "Dance Chunhyang-The Scent of Spring," which will be performed by the National Dance Company of Korea, and is based on a Korean folktale. They will also include the National Drama Company's "Cord," which is about court intrigues during the era of Joseon Dynasty.
The National Orchestra Company of Korea will perform "Four Rivers Flowing to the Sea," which will symbolize four different major religions being followed Korea, which are Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, and Shamanism.
Finally, the National Changguk Company of Korea will perform "Chung," which is an opera production also based on a Korean folktale, "Simchung," but sung in pansori-style.
All the productions will be performed at the various halls of the National Theater of Korea, which is in Jangchung-dong area of Seoul. Ticket prices vary widely, from 20,000 won to as high as 100,000 won. For more information visit www.ntok.go.kr.