Kwon Mee-yoo
Last week, the hottest ticket in Seoul was the National Changgeuk Company of Korea's (NCCK) "Lear." This “changgeuk,” which is a genre of traditional Korean opera, enjoyed a limited nine-day engagement at the Daloreum Theater of the National Theater of Korea. With just 500 seats available, tickets for the entire run were snapped up well ahead of its opening night.
The changgeuk adaptation of Shakespeare's tragic tale masterfully intertwined the tale of King Lear's descent into madness with the deep Korean emotion of "han," symbolizing grief and sorrow. Moreover, it wove in the philosophical views of Laozi, particularly the concept that "Heaven and earth are not benevolent," offering an understanding of nature bridging the East and the West.
This is not the first time that an NCCK production has sold out. Last summer, the changgeuk version of "The Merchant of Venice" sold all tickets for the 1,200-seat main Haeoreum Theater of the NTCK. Before that "Jeong Nyeon," a changgeuk portraying a coming-of-age story of a "gukgeuk" (female version of changgeuk) performer in the 1950s based on the webtoon of the same name, also sold out ahead of time in March 2023 and the company added three extra performances in response to the........