Changgeuk 'Wildfire' tells harshness of war

Jeom-nye (Lee So-yeon), left, and Gyu-bok (Kim Jun-su) in a scene from National Changgeuk Company of Korea's "Wildfire," which runs through Sunday / Courtesy of NCCK

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Cha Beok-seok's 1962 play "Wildfire" is considered a masterpiece of Korean modern realism theater, portraying postwar Korea on Mount Jiri in 1951. The play has been adapted into a "changgeuk" (Korean traditional opera) and emphasizes the grief of women caught in the war.

The National Changgeuk Company of Korea (NCCK) is presenting the changgeuk as its final show at the Haeoreum Theater in the National Theater of Korea, before the hall goes through a long renovation starting January. The play has been revived numerous times and adapted into film and opera, but this is the first time for the script to meet "pansori" (Korean traditional narrative music).

Directed by theater company Baeksukwangbu's Lee Sung-yeol, the changgeuk takes a play-within-a-play format and starts with Jeom-nye ― the protagonist ― visiting the former bamboo grove site for her mother-in-law's funeral. The bamboo grove was where she lived during the Korean War (1950-53) with her mother-in-law and other widows, while men were recruited for the war and killed in action.

The changgeuk centers around Jeom-nye, an obedient woman whose right-wing husband went missing and now lives with her in-laws, and Sa-wol, another woman in the village who lost her communist husband but wants to stay true to her desires rather than traditional values.

The villagers suffer from North and South Korean soldiers who exploit them, regardless of their ideology. Jeom-nye and Sa-wol's lives take an unexpected turn when a man named Gyu-bok flees to their town, escaping from a North Korean partisan organization.

Sa-wol (Ryu Ga-yang), right, in a scene from National Changgeuk Company of Korea's "Wildfire" / Courtesy of NCCK

Jeom-nye takes care of Gyu-bok and they fall in love with each other, but Sa-wol witnesses them in the bamboo grove and demands that she join in in the romance to gratify her own desires.

Through the twisted threesome, the changgeuk conjures up the tragedy of war and ordinary people living through it.

The play is a representative piece of realism, but the director shifted it to be symbolic, emotionally more appealing to modern-day audiences. The crows, which appear as an evil omen in the play, are reinterpreted through a seven member ensemble, which sings the ominous signs.

While most of the narrative centers on the women, director Lee strengthens the presence of victims of war by letting them sing and dance about their sorrows as spirits.

Composer Jang Young-gyu, mostly known for film scores such as "Train to Busan" and "The Wailing," took his first step into changgeuk. His music fluently describes the horrors of the war; but without professional pansori composer, "Wildfire" lacks power.

To bring the realistic atmosphere of the overwhelming bamboo thicket, the most important space of the play, over 1,000 real bamboo trees were used for the set. The revolving set efficiently reveals and conceals the widow village behind the grove.

The changgeuk runs through Sunday. Tickets cost from 20,000 to 70,000 won. For more information, visit www.ntok.go.kr or call 02-2280-4114.