Pansoriza Project Avignon Off
The original show has been reduced to agree the Off format and includes delicious references to the Cite des Papes, including the bridge of Avignon – one of the scenes was transposed to Avignon, which is not without remind us the performance of the Taiwanese Hsu Yen Ling in 2009.
Brecht’s text, rewritten and reframed in the current Korea, with its restaurants and voracious multinational, outrageous liberalism and unbridled individualism, respects the principle of Bretch Distanciation. It tells the story of Sun Tok, whose goodness is only matched by the generosity of her body. Visited by three curious characters, gods who were despairing of finding in this world a being of good will, the good soul, naive, and always ready to help her neighbor, lives from abuses to deceptions in this tricky world where money is the absolute master. Mistreated by her former boss and cheated by a carpenter without faith nor law, deceived by her beautiful lover, the Bogosse who dreamed to become a sommelier – he accepted to marry her only if her cousin came in person to offer him a well fat dowry -, threatened with expulsion by an unscrupulous owner, Sun Tok decided to create a fictional character, the one of her cousin, Nam Jae Su, to deliver her from these impostors and other thieves. Under the clothes of her cousin, she becomes a powerful businessman, taking revenge on those who duped her. Jae Su, revered by his peers, authoritarian and unjust for his employees – the reference to the french president political campaign is here very delectable-, is brought before the tribunal, composed of the same gods who had advised her to continue in the path of goodness, for theft of trade of her pregnant cousin, everyone claims for… until the truth is revealed to all.
This story questions our quest for Happiness: does goodness can make us happy in this world where human relationships are perverted by money? It questions the reality of our daily life where one conquers happiness through competition and unequal combat. The creation does not give us any answer: it exposes us facts, throughout a tasty and realistic tale told with humor and irony. We can choose our path. The one of the gods or Sun Tok’s one… She has to become Jae Su to preserve the goodness of her soul… This can only remind us the duality of our being: in our immoderate quest for happiness, between our private being and our social being, aren’t we led to act on the same model as the poor Sun Tok?
The project was born in 2007. Created by Lee Jaram, an internationally renowned Sorikkun singer, this show mixes with high accuracy Pansori 판소리*- popular and traditional Korean Opera with sung recitatives in which the singer 소리꾼is accompanied by a Gosu, a musician playing percussions called Buk – and contemporary instruments – one can notice the presence of an electric bass providing a powerful and aerial energy to the traditional music. The Pansori is a satirical genre alternating aniris 아니리, narration and changs, 창, songs, on a minimalist stage, almost naked, telling scenes of life with realism. The singer is wearing a curved, crop shirt and a dress which color matched to the jacket; a single fan as accessory used to let us imagine the decor or accompany the gesture of the singer. The latest has a very expressive face and embodies all the characters with great skill.
Here, the interpreter of this contemporary Pansori is Lee Seung Hee, 이승희, a young and gifted singer, used to traditional pansori techniques, whose voice got a round, deep and tint color. The young woman – who has an extraordinary beauty such as the famous Chinese movie star Gong Li – played in alternation with the great Lee Jaram and another interpreter, Kim So Jin. Her song, wistful and lyrical when she tells with a touch of humor the delicate woes of big Sun Tok – her interpretation of ‘bitter sweet’ is a mere delight – becomes more energetic and happy when she sang the role of the lover in which she excelled. Recitatives, entrusted with complicity to the audience, invite us to listen carefully to the story she reveals with generosity on the stage. Seconded by a talented musician encouraging her with heckling, the young woman, whose acting is all in nuance and the gesture accurate and very detailed, plays herself of the misadventures of the young Sun Tok, mocking the other characters, taunting the consumerist society and the useless gods.
Narrator and singer-actress, she keeps very simple, explaining us that the dancers have been left in Korea, telling us her malicious thoughts. Both clown and dancer, she brings us brilliantly into this both comic and tragic Pansori, which choreographic sketches are closed to Flamenco. The first part transports us to this distant Korea with its flavors of Kimbap, Bulgogi, kimchi and other spicy Korean food. In the second part of the show, her interpretation of the cousin is really outstanding: wearing a three pieces costume and a white hat, she becomes literally the businessman. The aesthetic of the costumes and the use of the fan, the fact she plays a man, remind us the Creative Society’s show: ‘He is my wife, he is my mother’. Moving and touching, the young singer expresses with enthusiasm her joy to be here, in front of the audience. A true moment of happiness shared with grace under subtle lights, accompanied by a trio of fabulous musicians. For the translation, the modern French is filled with subtle references to french history and offers us to discover a poetic and very well written text.
A show between East and West that deserves to tour again in America, Europe or Asia. DIANE VANDERMOLINA
* Pan is a space where people gather; Sori means sound or noise.
