Changguk, Korean “Opera”

Video clip: Changguk; allots the characters of the pansori stories to several actors Veli Rosenberg

Changguk is a form of sung drama evolved from pansori storytelling. Originally, they shared a common repertoire and musical style. In pansori one singer acts both as the narrator and is also responsible for the lines of the various characters, whereas in changguk the parts are allotted to several actor-singers. Their movement technique has a gentle, dance-like quality. While pansori is accompanied by a single drummer, a small orchestra accompanies changguk.

The History

Changguk came into being in the urban context in the early 20^th century. Visiting Chinese opera troupes awakened an interest in Korean sung drama. The novelty was based on the pansori tradition. Changguk was originally performed by professional, male and female pansori singers. According to the Chinese stage conventions, no stage décor was used.

In the early 20^th century the Royal Theatre in Seoul employed famous pansori stars for its changguk productions. The troupe was dissolved and performances were given again after 1910. Then the productions employed an illusory décor, inspired by Western theatre. Besides the traditionally folk epics that belonged to the pansori repertoire, new plays were also adapted for changguk.

New Trends

Western stage realism became fashionable in Korea in the 1930s. The scenography of changguk productions became more dominating and the Western-trained theatre directors also added realistic, spoken dialogue to their productions. The following two decades are seen as changguk’s golden age.

The productions gradually became increasingly grandiose, partly because of the growth of the theatre buildings. All the folk epics in the pansori repertoire were dramatized for changguk, while new dramas were also created. Finally large dance and chorus scenes together with the heavy décor swallowed changguk’s original intimacy.

In the 1960s the National Changgkuk Troupe was founded in connection with the Korean National Theatre. It aims both to adapt changguk for the many large modern stages, while it also tries to maintain the original, small-scale performance tradition.