The Graduate School Seoul National University
The Orphan of Zhao Family (趙氏孤兒) is a very famous drama in the Chinese classical repertoire. Wang Guowei in his book, A Study of Song and Yuan Drama, paid high compliments to The Orphan of Zhao Family and The Resentment of Dou E as very rare tragedies among the Chinese drama. In this paper, I’m going to carry out a analysis study of the performances of The Orphan of Zhao Family directed by Koh Sun-woong(高宣雄), who is also a prominent Korean director, invited by the National Theatre of Korea for the production
in 2015.
Koh’s stage was pretty faithfully based on the Ji Junxiang’s Yuan drama version, because he found great narrative power in the play.
But it disclosed the limits of that time, so director Koh developed much more meaningful interpretations of the revenge narrative.
Koreans are familiar with Confucian ideas as Asian values, and can easily accept the value of loyalty and filial piety, but we can’t agree with the violence and massacre, especially because we still remember the period of Japanese occupation, the Korean War, the blood for democracy and the recent tragedy of the Sewol Ferry in our own modern history.
So we wanted to reveal what the righteousness of the affair is, and to confirm the value of self-sacrifice for loyalty and faith, but not the violence and massacre caused by one man’s desire for power.
That’s why he put a really poignant scene at the end in which nobody listens to Cheng Ying or even cares for him when, after the revenge of same massacre, he ends his life to report the result to his dead friends, though the massacre washeld by the king who wanted to keep his power on.
It totally collapses not only him but also all the audience as they realize that revenge is all for nothing. So the person in the black suit, who is an outside character of the drama, brings a message: not to make any problem among people and to live together with love during your short life.
For the presence of historical memory, Koh used several different ways to show how it is remembered. Because the memory is usually one sided, not comprehensive, so at the beginning we only can watch a sketch about Chu Ni and Ling Zhe, and at the last scene Cheng Ying, the witness of the affair, revealed why Chu Ni died himself in
that way and why Ling Zhe rescued Zhao Dun from danger through the explanation of the picture. The scene of Cheng Ying struggling with his wife to exchange his son and orphan not only leads the audience to an emotional peak but also lets them contemplate the conflict of human nature and the belief in social relationship.
Because of the deep insight into human nature, I believe the scene added a new page in the history of performance of The Orphan of Zhao Family. Koh’s version gives us very strong message, not only in the theme and narrative, but also in presenting a very familiar, but fresh and impressive approach to the stage. Because Koh puts stress on theatricality and playfulness, he prefers an empty stage and very much depends upon the acting of the actors. The harmony of the actors and all the elements of the stage is the real virtue of this production. The most interesting characteristics of this production is the unique Korean style tragedy. The Orphan of Zhao Family is the famous so-called “Chinese tragedy,” and many directors feel the burden of how to present the tragedy.
But director Koh approached it in his own Korean way, because Koreans used to use humor and satire lightly in dealing with deep sorrow and tragic fate. So the stage keeps on a speedy and cheerful rhythm until Cheng Ying’s son is dead in the first act and even until the orphan comes to know his own story of survival in the second act. The performance fully displayed the aesthetic of the empty stage of traditional oriental theatre in a very interesting way. I believe the production not only revealed the power of the narrative of Chinese classical drama, but also brought up a universal dialogue with deep and new interpretations, and also created an interesting new stage of Korean style tragedy. It also contributed to arousing new concern about the staging of Chinese classical drama.
Keyword: The Orphan of Zhao Family, Koh Sun-woong, The seed of Revenge, Narrative of Revenge, Historical Memory, Humanities, Korean Style Tragedy.
Student Number: 2015-22109
<감사의 글>
제가 살아가면서 이룰 모든 성공의 반은 어머니와 아버지의 사랑과 헌신 덕분입니다. 항상 저를 믿어주시고 묵묵히 응원해주시는 사랑하는 부모님께 감 사드립니다.
설렘과 꿈을 안고 서울대학교 정문을 들어왔던 게 엊그제 같은데 벌써 3년 남짓한 시간이 지났습니다. 완성된 논문을 보니 제가 곧 졸업하는 게 이제야 실 감이 납니다. 처음 대학원에 들어왔을 때와는 비교할 수 없이 제가 발전하고 성 장한 것을 느낄 수 있는 의미 있는 시간들이었습니다.
이 논문이 나오기까지 수많은 사람들의 도움을 받았습니다. 그분들의 도움 이 없었다면 논문이 나올 수 없었기에 이 글로 감사의 인사를 드리고자 합니다.
우선 바쁘신 가운데에도 제 학위논문의 심사위원을 맡아주시고 좋은 조언 을 해 주신 양승국 교수님, 이창숙 교수님, 조현설 교수님께 감사드립니다.
먼저 언제나 연구에 대해 아낌없는 지도를 해주시는 양승국 지도교수님께 깊은 감사의 뜻을 전합니다. 연구에 대해서 아무것도 모르던 저를 교수님께서는 연구 방법뿐만 아니라 인생에 필요한 지혜 등 많은 것들을 알려주셨습니다. 실 수가 있어도 넓은 마음으로 받아주시고 제가 석사학위논문을 무사히 마칠 수 있도록 항상 성심성의껏 지도 해주시고, 인생에 있어서도 많은 조언을 해주셔서 감사드립니다. 교수님의 제자로서 부족한 점이 많지만 모르는 것을 여쭤보면 항 상 막힘없이 가르쳐주셨습니다. 교수님의 지도를 통해 연구가 무엇이고 제가 부 족한 점이 무엇인지 어떤 방향으로 나아가야 할지 알 수 있었던 것 같습니다.
특히 외국생활이 힘들었을 때 세상을 넓게 바라볼 수 있게 좋은 조언을 해시고 위로해주셔서 큰 감사를 표하고 싶습니다.
논문심사 동안 꼼꼼하게 제 논문을 봐주신 이창숙 교수님께도 감사드립니 다. 덕분에 저는 무사히 논문을 작성할 수 있었고 졸업도 할 수 있게 되었습니 다. 이번 논문 심사 때 유익한 조언도 많이 해주셨습니다. 이에 정말 감사드립 니다. 또한 많이 바쁘신 와중에도 신경써주시고 논문발전에 도움을 주신 조현설 교수님께도 감사드립니다.
외국유학생으로서 한국어로 논문 쓰는 게 많이 서툴렀습니다. 자연스러운 논문이 되도록 끝까지 도와준 우성오빠에게 감사하다는 말 꼭 전하고 싶습니다.
그리고 3년 남짓한 시간동안 도와주신 많은 선후배분들께도 진심으로 감사드립 니다.