Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
HS Pimatgol revived on stage
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Pimatgol ㅡ the old-fashioned back alleys filled with cozy, cheap restaurants in Jongno-gu, downtown Seoul ㅡ has been demolished, making way for redevelopment projects.
However, it’s being revived on stage with a nostalgic appeal to those who miss the relics that have been bulldozed. “Pimatgol Sonata,” playing at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul is a musical portraying a tragic love story from the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910) with the backdrop of Pimatgol.
“I was very worried about the musical at first, as it is a premiere of the first large-scale musical made by Seoul City,” Yoo Hee-sung, director of the Seoul representative musical told The Korea Times.
Though the actual alley was demolished due to an urban redevelopment plan, it was brought to the stage by Yoo. The first act is a depiction of Korean traditional culture.
On a stage comprising of simplified thatched houses symbolizing Pimatgol, ensembles sing and dance to portray the common people’s life in the alley and traditional percussion music, samulnori, leads a parade for the winner of the state examination.
The musical does not aim to reproduce the exact old alleyway and the life of its dwellers on stage, “I abbreviated the details of Pimatgol in a way proper for stage,” he said. “In other words, Pimatgol gave us inspiration as an example of disappearing places and memories.”
Pimatgol in wonderland
The second act is more of a fantasy, jumping some three hundred years to the early 20th century of Pimatgol where rats live.
The music changes to rap and hip-hop with rats dancing in groups.
“It is like the Wonderland of Alice. It could be confusing at first, but people are absorbed into the fantasy and enjoy it later,” he said. “Movies like ‘Avatar’ and ‘Inception’ plunged into the world of dreams and imagination and I tried to stage such fantasy in the second act.”
Foreigners who came to the musical were favorable towards the performances.
David Teszar, a Hungarian film critic who watched the show, said the English subtitles helped foreigners understand the performance. Subtitles are provided in English and Japanese.
“The best part was the final scene of the first act, where the four main characters sang in front of the projected animation,” he said. “Although the musical has Korean traditional costumes and sets, the message and story was universal, which was easy to understand.”
Teszar did not know about Pimatgol before, but the performance sparked his interest. “Since I had no background information on Pimatgol, I will look for more when I get back home,” the Hungarian said.
The musical will close on Tuesday, but it will be staged again and again as a real musical representing Seoul.
“‘Pimatgol’ unraveled the originality of Korean culture through modern style. I want expatriates to understand the culture of Seoul and Korea better through this musical,” Yoo said. “As the theme of the show is universal, I hope I can bring the show to Broadway and the West End after working on it.”