Lee Yountaek (born 1952) is a poet, dramatist, and producer.
1. Life
Lee Yountaek was born in Busan. He studied at Seoul Institute of the Arts but quit in 1973 and returned to Busan, where he held odd jobs as a door-to-door salesman, post office clerk, and technician at a textile factory. Lee made his literary debut in 1979 when his poems "Cheonchesueop" (천체수업 Astronomy Lesson) and "Dokkaebibul" (도깨비불 Ghost Lights) were published in Hyundae Poetry. In 1979 he began working for the Busan Ilbo as a journalist, while continuing to write poetry and criticism in literary magazines. In 1986 he quit his job at the Busan Ilbo and founded the theatrical company Yeonhuidan Georipae and opened the Gamagol Theater in Busan.
Up to 1993, Yeonhuidan Georipae staged plays mostly at the Gamagol Theater in Busan before branching out to Seoul, with Lee at the forefront of Korea's theater scene. Lee became a tour de force, writing not only for the stage but for film and television as well. He also wrote newspaper columns and tried his hand at dance and musical stagings, earning the nickname of "culture guerrilla." In February 2018, Lee was accused by former members of Yeonhuidan Georipae of sexual harassment and rape, upon which the company was dismantled. In September the same year he was sentenced to six years in prison. In July 2019 he lost his appeal and was ordered to serve seven years in prison.
2. Writing
As director of Yeonhuidan Georipae, Lee Yountaek swept theatrical awards for his plays such as Simin K (시민K Citizen K), Ogu: jugeumui hyeongsik (오구: 죽음의 형식 Ogu: Rituals of Death), and Babo gaksi (바보각시 Foolish Bride). After successfully staging Simin K at Seoul's Daehakro 1988, he began to split his time between Seoul and Busan, directing. In 1995 he won the Dong-a Drama Awards' grand prix and best script for Munjejeok ingan yeonsan (문제적 인간 연산 Yeonsan, Troubled Human). His works successfully combined popular appeal with tradition, and were invited to many international drama festivals.
Lee Yountaek has consistently explored the topics of home, mothers, and longing for lost things while exploring the form of traditional Korean theater. Inspired by the Ogu shamanistic ritual, Ogu: jugeumui hyeongsik takes the ritual's rites and playful elements and gives them a modern reinterpretation. The themes touched upon are Korea's traditional conceptions of death and the afterworld. In five acts, featuring an agent from the afterworld, the dead mother, and the bereaved, the play moves back and forth between the worlds of the living and the dead, showing that life and death coexist in the human world and that death is never far away from our lives. The Ogu ritual, which prays for the dead to be comfortable in the afterlife, reminds us of the traditional view of death not as an eternal parting, and that the afterworld and the living world are connected.
Eomeoni (어머니 Mother) depicts memories and longing for that most fundamental refuge of humanity, the mother figure. In an industrialized society, a mother reminisces about her past life to a grandson. The work moves easily from dream to reality, the living and the dead, in a space where the boundaries between the afterworld and the living world have broken down, as the mother's trauma is overcome and her life made whole again.
