Yeonwoo Mudae and the Korean Theatre Movement in the 1980s

Yeonwoo Mudae is an exemplary theatre company of Korean theatre of the 1980s. It focused on newly created pieces (changjak-geuk) to provide a critical and historical understanding of contemporary Korean politics and culture. Using Brechean epic theatre, elements of madang-geuk (outdoor, episodic performances colored by traditional Korean theatre aesthetics), and local literature or history as its source, the company transitioned from a student workshop with no space of its own to a group with a permanent little theatre style space in first the Shinchon area and then the Daehakro theatre district. Its exemplary productions both reflected and spurred the movement toward democratization and freedom of speech in the fraught political environment of a country repressed by the military-led government of President Chun Doo-Hwan. Jungman Park is an assistant professor in School of English for Interpretation and Translation at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. His research interests are theatre history (both Western and Korean) and modern British and American drama. His publications have appeared in Journal of Modern British and American Drama, Hanguk Yeongeukhak (Korean Theatre Studies), Journal of American Studies, Journal of English Language and Language, Asian Theatre Journal, and Shakespeare Reviews.