Lee Gunsam (1929-2003) was a South Korean playwright. He garnered attention in the Korean theater community in the 1960s by developing experimental new theater formats such as epic theater and expressionism in an environment dominated by hyperrealism. Lee’s use of unorthodox characters and comedic elements served to parody the authoritarian condition of South Korea in its era of economic development and its social injustices. His most famous works include Wongoji (원고지 Manuscript Paper) (1960) and Gungmul itsaomnida (국물 있사옵니다 We Have Some Broth) (1966).
1. Life
Lee Gunsam lived both as an experimental playwright and as a dedicated educator. He was born in Pyeongyang, now in North Korea, in 1929. He participated in student movements opposing communist rule in 1946, and fled alone to South Korea to avoid persecution.[1] He studied English literature at Dongguk University in Seoul starting in 1947.
Lee went to the United States in 1956 as an international student, kicking off his career as a playwright. He attended the University of North Carolina and studied theater theory and dramaturgy, and was especially captivated by the Theater of the Absurd and epic theater.[2] His first work was Kkeudeopneun silmari (끝없는 실마리 The Endless Clue) (1958)[3], which was performed at the University of North Carolina. He received his master’s degree in 1959 and returned to South Korea, where he published the one-act drama Wongoji and made his official debut as a playwright. Lee went on to pen multiple plays including Gungmul itsaomnida, Abelman-ui jaepan (아벨만의 재판 The Trial of Abelman) (1975), and Makchatan donggidongchang (막차 탄 동기동창 Classmates and Schoolmates on the Last Bus) (1991). Having never taken a single hiatus from his playwright career, Lee published a total of 56 plays over his lifetime until his death in 2003.[4]
Lee was also an educator who played a part in establishing theater as an official academic subject in South Korea. As a professor of English literature at Dongguk University in 1959, he was heavily involved in the establishment of a department of theater and film at the school. He also undertook theater education at other universities as well.[5] Lee also wrote textbooks on the subject, including Yeongeugui jeongnon (연극의 정론 Principles of Theater) (1970) and Seoyang yeongeuksa (서양 연극사 The History of Theater in the West) (1982). Lee served as the vice-president of the Korean Centre of PEN International and a member of the National Academy of Arts, Republic of Korea, and was the recipient of the National Academy of Arts Award in 1992, the Order of Civil Merit (Moran Medal) in 1994, and the Daesan Literary Award in 2002.
2. Writing
Experimental Style
Lee Gunsam’s diverse experimental attempts came as a great shock to South Korean theater, where hyperrealism was the dominant style. Lee’s attempts can be divided into three main types.
The first type is epic theater.[6] Rather than draw audiences into the fantasy of the stage, he chose to make them aware of the fact that they were observing a performance.[7] To generate this effect, Lee often made use of narrator characters and put them on the stage to describe the situation. His representative work Wongoji casts the character of “Eldest Daughter” to explain the circumstances on the stage. Yuyang geukdan (유랑 극단 The Itinerant Theater Troupe) (1971) features a “chorus” role that regulates the situation on the stage and speaks directly to the audience. Lee’s intended effect was to compel viewers to take a more critical stance on the world of the play and more actively communicate with the narrative. If Bertolt Brecht, father of epic theater, attempted to change society by teaching audiences to see the world with critical eyes, Lee’s use of the form was intended to make audiences empathize with the characters even while keeping a critical distance from the stage.[8]
The second type is expressionism. The characters in Lee Gunsam’s plays are not so much realistic as shaped specifically to express the effects he intended.[9] The “Professor” character in Wongoji is dressed in a suit patterned like manuscript paper and is draped in chains.[10] In Daewangeun jukkireul geobuhaetta (대왕은 죽기를 거부했다 The Great King Refused to Die) (1961), Lee depicted a 25-year-old adult wearing nothing but a pair of diapers.
The third type is fable theater. Lee preferred to deliver fable-like stories based in fictional settings. The stage in his works were not decorated for realistic set pieces.[1] Daewangeun jukkireul geobuhaetta takes place 2,000 years in the past, in an ancient country ruled by an absolute king. Even in Gungmul itsaomnida, which takes place in modern times, the author instructs, “The stage does not necessarily have to be dressed in a realistic manner.”[12]
Criticism and parody of dictator-led development-era of South Korean society
Lee’s flexibility as a playwright served him well in composing critical plays and parodies of society. One of his priorities was in criticizing the political realities of South Korea during its dictator-led development era and bringing the social injustices they caused to the forefront.
Wongoji and Georukan jigeop (거룩한 직업 The Sacred Work) (1961) are portraits of lethargic Korean intellectuals. The character “Professor” from the former cannot produce any information of his own, instead mechanically translating information from the United States. Georukan jigeop is a story about a thief chastising a scholar who has spent 15 years repeating the same lectures over 15 years. In these plays, Lee shows his understanding of the Unites States’ absolute influence over South Korea—a state forcibly formed in the Cold War—and his perspective that positive change will never come to society when its intellectuals remain static conveyors of information.
Gungmul itsaomnida depicts the progression of its protagonist Sang-beom in order to parody the materialistic attitude of developing south Korea. Sang-beom, who starts out at a considerate man who puts others before himself and is always taken advantage of by others, happens to take advantage of a co-worker in order to illicitly receive a promotion and ultimately turns his back on his morals.[13] From beginning to end, Gungmul itsaomnida is filled to the brim with deception between all parties. It depicts the status of 1960s South Korea as a community of distrust.
Je-18-gonghwaguk (제18공화국 The Eighteenth Republic) was a bold criticism of the military dictatorship, depicting the 18th Republic, a fictional state that has been overturned 17 times thus far by coups d’état. It was clear to South Korean audiences that the play was a criticism of the Third Republic of Korea established in a coup d’état by Park Chung-hee.[14] Published in 1967 with funding from International PEN, this play depicting the corruption and censorship of the military regime was never performed.[15]
1970s onward
Starting in the 1970s, Lee began to put distance between his plays and allusions to real-life political realities.[16] Yurang geukdan tells the story of a Korean itinerant theater troupe during the Japanese occupation. The troupe leader, who runs the troupe as part of a patriotic independence effort, is arrested by the Japanese police, and the troupe is persecuted by authorities. The character Oh So-gong, however, cleverly stages a patriotic play under the Japanese police’s noses. The troupe disperses after the successful performance, but the play ends with the implication that the lives of the troupe members will continue. Lee used the character of Oh So-gong to plead with the audience to look back on the history of the Japanese occupation to examine contemporary society. A notable characteristic of Yurang geukdan is that almost every character is introduced by standing up from amongst the audience. This is a theatrical device that implies to the audience that the play is their story as much as it is the characters.[17]
From the 1980s on, Lee shifted towards realism, publishing works such as Makcha tan donggidongchang and Yi Seong-gye-ui Budongsan (이성계의 부동산 Yi Seong-gye’s Real Estate) (1994) that reflect upon life. Lee Gunsam’s plays remain popular in South Korea today and continue to be performed after his death.[18]
Reference
[1] “Lee Gunsam,” Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=2460000&cid=46664&categoryId=46664.
[2] Committee for the Compilation of a Library of 100 Years of Modern Korean Literature, “Lee Gunsam,” Literary History Through Biographies 1: Before Liberation, Somyung, 2008, http://www.krpia.co.kr/viewer/open?plctId=PLCT00005191&nodeId=NODE03755102#none.
[3] Kim, Mun-hwan, “Plays and Political Realities,” ed. The Learned Society of Korean Drama and Theater, Lee Gunsam, Yeongeukgwaingan, 2010, p.7.
[4] “Lee Gunsam,” Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=2460000&cid=46664&categoryId=46664.
[5] Committee for the Compilation of a Library of 100 Years of Modern Korean Literature, “Lee Gunsam,” Literary History Through Biographies 1: Before Liberation, Somyung, 2008, http://www.krpia.co.kr/viewer/open?plctId=PLCT00005191&nodeId=NODE03755102#none.
[6] Kwon, Young-min, History of Contemporary Korean Literature 2, Minumsa, 2002, p.39.
[7] In technical terms, Lee chose to reject dramatic illusion in the pursuit of theatricality.
Lee, Hwa-jin, “Research on Lee Gunsam’s Plays,” Yonsei University master’s thesis, 2001, p.3.
[8] In that sense, Lee Gunsam’s plays can be compared to those of Bertolt Brecht, father of epic theater. Brecht was known for rejecting traditional theater, which focused on drawing audiences into empathizing with the fictional world of the play.
“Epic Theatre,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_theatre.
[9] Seo, Yeon-ho, “The World of Contemporary Fables,” ed. The Learned Society of Korean Drama and Theater, Lee Gunsam, Yeongeukgwaingan, 2010, p.34.
[10] “Wongoji,” Encyclopedia of Contemporary Korean Literature, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=335260&cid=41708&categoryId=41737.
[11] Seo, Yeon-ho, “The World of Contemporary Fables,” ed. The Learned Society of Korean Drama and Theater, Lee Gunsam, Yeongeukgwaingan, 2010, p.30.
[12] Lee, Gunsam, Gukmul itsaomnida, Jisigeulmandeuneunjisik, 2014, p.5.
[13] Lee, Gunsam, “About ‘Gukmul itsaomnida’,” Gukmul itsaomnida, Jisigeulmandeuneunjisik, 2014, 117.
[14]The two coups d’état preceding the Third Republic of Korea were the April 19 and May 16 incidents respectively. The former, which took place in 1960, was a civilian revolution that rose up against the authoritarian regime of Syngman Rhee, the first president of South Korea (“April Revolution,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Revolution). The latter, however, was a military coup d’état led by then-Army Major General Park Chung-hee in 1961. Park’s faction asserted itself as a continuation of the spirit of the April Revolution, and labeled their uprising a revolution. (“5.16,” Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=568392&cid=46626&categoryId=46626.)
[15] Lee, Gunsam, “Playwright’s Foreword,” Lee Gunsam jeonjip 1, Yeongeukgwaingan, 2010, p.26.; “Je-18-gonghwaguk,” Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=548114&cid=46664&categoryId=46664.
[17] “Yuranggeukdan,” Encyclopedia of Contemporary Korean Literature, https://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?docId=335261&cid=41708&categoryId=41737.
[18] Recent performances include the October 2019 performance of “Wongoji” at the Noel in Daehangno, and “30-irui paradise” (30일의 파라다이스 30 Days of Paradise) (1973) at the Dalseo Culture Foundation’s Smiling Arts Center in April of 2019.
