• (The) Research of the performance art and culture
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• no.23
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• pp.245-280
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• 2011

One of the major streams of modern play in Korea is the work of introducing Korea's traditional ritual-'gut' into a play. Such work, together with the stream of diversification of culture, has brought about the tendency to induce 'gut' into a play in a creative way. The research on ritual plays in Korea has been done in the direction of studying the ritual plays in the West centering on the work of theoretically inquiring into histrionic features inhering in 'gut' as a ritual. This research made an analysis of the receptive aspect of rituals and histrionic characteristics presented in Korea plays through "Sanssikgim" and "Ogu" on the basis of the theory of ritual plays established by Artaud. In an effort to understand the receptive aspect of rituals, this research analyzed what forms these Korean works are borrowing from "Ssikgim gut" and "Ogu gut" while analyzing these works differently from the viewpoint of Artaud regarding characteristics of ritual plays. Accordingly, this research made an analysis of the structure and characteristic of "gut" with the aim of understanding in what form "gut" is absorbed into Korean plays by looking at the theatric receptive forms of "gut." The ritual plays in Korea originated in "gut." Likewise, the theater of cruelty by Artaud was greatly influenced by the belly dance stemming from "mudang-gut" in Asia. Accordingly, there is considerably exposed something in common between the ritual play in Korea and Artaud's theater of cruelty. "Gut" in Korea, or ritual plays are a little different from Artaud's work which makes its audience feel unfamiliar in that 'gut' or ritual plays in Korea are pursuing ritualistic quality and playing quality simultaneously, but there exists a similarity between the two in that they both desired to have communication with audiences. This researcher strongly believes that for the time to come, when the receptive aspect of the modern play assuming ritualistic quality is developed using the medium of communication with audiences, purification and play therapy, its direction will be more noticeably exposed.

• Journal of English Language & Literature
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.539-565
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• 2009

T. S. Eliot attempted the combining of the liturgy of Anglican Church and a drama in Murder in the Cathedral (1935) and created a modern verse drama which comes most close to the regular tragedy like Greek tragedy today. Eliot chose the drama to deliver his religious insight because of its ritualistic origin and its potentiality to deliver a dramatic world which can contain a complete order. The central theme of this play is the martyrdom. The dramatic action of killing the archbishop Thomas Beckett in this play, however, is not treated as important event enough to be a dramatic climax. He is portrayed as a witness to the reality of God's will rather than a man who wills to give up his own life for any religious belief or cause. In Eliot, a martyr is nothing but "a witness" in its ancient sense. This paper purposes to review the language of this play. The various and new meters and rhythms of the language of this play function enough to bring its playwright to encounter 'the real audience' in 'a living theatre'. The interactions between different verbal models also play a big role to make this play a living theatre. Eliot found the poetry which crosses the various classes and levels of the tastes of audience is the most useful poetry. And the poetry of this play proves as the very thing which intensifies the theme of the play and gives the most powerful force to the play. Especially Eliot's poetry succeeds smost in the various and free meters of chorus, which makes Eliot the first playwright since Aeschylus, who could bring the chorus to undertake the function of extending the dramatic action of the play into the universal meaning. In the theatre the real audience identifies themselves with chorus. And the chorus leads the audience to respond to peace which passeth understanding beyond words and sounds of this play, which is the desired response in Eliot's conception of drama.

• Journal of Korean Theatre Studies Association
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• no.49
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• pp.171-208
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• 2013

Site-specific performance is always the real on-site work taking place at the site. Hence, it deals with the reality, in other words, the time of creation and formation. And it creates value and meaning through the interaction and continuous direct communication process between the performers, audience and the local residents. In this performance, the audience's status as the passive observer changes. They become the co-agent who actively lead and complete the performance through their own experience. We have examined the The Working Methods of Site-specific Performance and Aesthetics of Effect through four Korean performances ; Marie, An aesthetic experiment of site as the storyteller; Heterotopia and Urban Movement Research or Play: We Will Move Your Sofa, as performances which have Revealed history, politics, institution engraved in the site ; A Song of Mandala and Miracle, as a ritualistic site-specific performance at the historic site. Some remarks on Site-specific performance ; First, In Site-specific performance, the habitus peculiar to the stage art and the mode of reception are changed. Second, a new mode of theatrical communication requires creator and audience to have a sharp aesthetic sensibility and to change one's perceptual habit. Third, Site-specific performance can act as a demonstration for the viewpoints of political activism through what could be called a dramatic close-up effect. Fourth, Site-specific performance also has the risk of merely becoming an unfocused and scattered performance or degenerating into a pseudo-sightseeing. To avoid this, an in-depth study of the site and its socio-cultural context, and the clear motivation with which one is trying to reveal and tell from the site must be indispensable. As the co-agent, the audience should also be aware and think about what the given performance signifies today.