Like the myth of Pygmalion, the kNOT theater company is bringing visual art to life, weaving together the centuries-old tableau vivant tradition with inventive 21st century approaches to create live theater out of a series of paintings by the 18th century Korean artist Shin Yun-bok. The process involves many strands, including live dancers, computer animation, shadow puppetry, digital puppetry, original music, live photo capture, enough sound effects to fill a radio drama — everything except spoken language. The effect is extraordinary, resulting in what feels like an exciting new form of theater.
“maedeup: Weaving Shin Yun-bok” is finished its too-brief four-day run at La MaMa Sunday.; it was free with an RSVP. This is a show that deserves a lot more life. But maybe it could use a more inviting title? (Maedeup, 매듭, is the Korean word for “knot,” which I’m sure has connotations for Koreans of which I am unaware.)
Shin Yun-bok painted everyday scenes picturing both men and women; many of the men were scholars (evident by their imposing black hats); many of the women entertainers. “Maedeup” takes ten of those paintings (reproductions of which are also hanging in the lobby.) Unlike traditional tableaux vivant, the performers, wearing the flowing white robes of the period, only freeze in the pose of each painting at the very end of an elaborate scene.
The production photographs can’t capture how delicate, vibrant and dynamic these scenes are. They are even more difficult to describe. The dancers tell a story in movement and costume. At the same time, at a table to the left of the stage, two cast members supplement the original recorded music with a variety of musical instruments, some traditionally Korean, some makeshift, along with a series of special sound effects. At a table to the right of the stage, a cast member places a variety of items, many of them Korean cultural totems, on a board that is projected onto the screen at the back of the stage.
At the end of each scene, the performers slide into a pose, a camera projects their live image onto that back screen, and then the photographic image morphs into a projection of the painting.
Each scene, presented in no discernible order, varies in approaches. For the painting “Two Lovers Under the Moon,” the two performers holding lanterns engage in a kind of shadow puppetry; only their shadows interact.
My favorite scene was for the painting “Moon-Night Secret Meeting,” accompanied by a score of pure jazz, with a woman yielding a sword with ultimate cool, even blowing on it in imitation of a gunslinger in an old Western, then reaching out and drawing in another gal for an intimate, elegant embrace, as if to tango.
Sometimes, the manipulations projected onto the screen during the scene turn the traditional Korean painting into something far closer to modern art. Here is Young People Out on a Spring Excursion..
before it becomes
Notice how the young people wear sunglasses (in the 21st century, not the 18th.) They are chic enough to be runway models. I half-expect maedeup to wind up being featured in a spread in Vogue.
maedeup: Weaving Shin Yun-bok
Director Kim JiYoung
Assistant Director Shin SeokHun
Stage Manager Yun YeBean
Text & Dramaturg Kim NaYeong
Choreographer Kim SoYi
Composer Woody Pak
Music Director Lee JeongYeon
Assistant Music Director Kim JiWoo
Technical Director Lee SeungHoon
Lighting designer Kim SuBin
Costume Designers Lee Jieun, Ko Sukhee, Kim SoYi
Stage Technician Jung MinJai
Motion Graphics Designer Kim HuKyeong
Graphic Designer Yoo DongHyeon
Prop Designer Kwon Min
Touring & Company Manager Chang KiYeong
Performers
Shim EunSeop, Kim SaRang, Kim SeoRan,Ko ByungYong, Noh SoonMo, Shin RaHee, Lee Eun, Seo GwanYoung
Supported by: Seoul Institute of the arts, Kansong Art and Culture Foundation, Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange(KOFICE)
Paintings Shin Yun-bok, ink and color on paper
