Five of Shakespeare’s Works Adapted Into Musicals

Golden bell, cherry blossoms, and azaleas are recently in full bloom in Namsan, Seoul. Even at night, yellow blossoms of golden bell are vivid, and light pink cherry blossoms are blown by a gentle wind. On Han-river Bridges as well, golden illumination and red lights of cars look like blossoms in full bloom. On nights of April when spring has ripened, the National Theater of Korea (NTOK) attracts people with another fantastic world.

-Pop-music dance circus in one place

Welcome to “Club Haneul.” Especially those of you who have no partner will be amazed tonight. You can dance on the stage with dancers you like.”

A neon sign saying “Club Oberon” glitters at “Haneul Theater” of NTOK every night. “Club Haneul,” a standing night musical, is performed at an outdoor theater to April 18. A ticket costs adults 25,000 won and university students 15,000 won. At the entrance they sell pamphlets and cocktail for three thousand won.

There is no division between the stage and guest seats in the theater. The theater is filled with the youthful ardor of the young enjoying taking photos of dancers’ magnificent dances with cell phones with built-in digital cameras.

This performance is a musical that is a remake of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” with circus, magic, pop music and dancing added. The audience who watched the performance standing for about thirty minutes at the beginning sat down to enjoy the musical in earnest when the circus of Dance Theatre Dongrang ended. When the couples recognized their partners at last and kissed, the audience’s cries filled the theater. At the last scene after the characters regain their love, Dance Theatre Dongrang’s dancers and the audience together fell into the chaos of dance.

-Attracting Audience Participation with an Open Stage

NTOK will put four more of Shakespeare’s works on the stage of Haneul Theater ending May 26. Haneul Theater, which has 660 seats, looks like a small-size Seoul World Cup Stadium. You can see the sky over the stage, but you can hear actors and actress voices clearly thanks to the roof covering the guest seats.

These open-air performances will present Shakespeare’s works that show the mirth of play. They were reinterpreted with contemporary sensibilities in mind for the audience to join in the performances.

“Club Haneul” and “Musical: The Twelfth Night” add to the amusement with show musicals. “Hamlet from East” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” which have participated several times in drama festivals of other countries, express strong images with Asian body language instead of dialogue. “The Tragedy of King Lear,” the last of the five, presents the essence of open-air performances, being faithful to the original form of tragedy. Time: 7:30 p.m. 02-2274-3507

Seung-Hoon Cheon raphy@donga.com