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Interviews
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Do-Wan Im - "a new dynamic interpretation" Rivka Jacobson talks to the Korean director of Woyzeck at the Edinburgh Fringe The production of Georg Buchner's Woyzeck at the Aurora Nova was a breathtaking theatrical experience. Soon after the show I tracked the director, Professor Do-Wan Im, and asked for the privilege of an interview. He smiled warmly and indicated that he speaks only Korean and French. Before I managed to ascertain how we were going to communicate, a charming young Soo Lee appeared from nowhere, introducing herself as his interpreter. I later found out they were married. The tea in their company, at the Auroa's café, tasted particularly delicious. Do-Wan Im was born in 1960 in Seoul, South Korea. He has been a Professor at Seoul Institute of the Arts for the last ten years, an Institute where he was once a student. He teaches movement, acting and directing; more precisely he mentors productions by young directors. The plays are mostly drama based on realism and comedies. Now, he admits that the South Korean audience has developed an appetite for musicals. This is a growing form of staging in Korea. He also studied at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq. Much of what he studied there has found expression in the production of Woyzeck. Unmasking Buchner's WoyzeckDo-Wan Im explains that he wished to create a new dynamic interpretation of Buchner's original drama. "We analyze the text to find the original's hidden potentials while advancing a new language in physical theatre using movement, objects, acting, and make-up. Specially using chairs as a changeable metaphor, the performers both shape the dramatic space and reveal the character's emotional states." In this production of Woyzeck the idea of the chorus is of course influenced by Greek tragedy. The chorus expresses Woyzeck's emotions as well as becomes a scenography on the stage which makes audience feel imaginary space on the stage. He gives as examples two scenes. "Take for instance the Carnival scene: the chorus assumes the role of animals such as insects, monkeys and horses to show animal instinct which exists inside the human mind, or the Cemetery scene where the chorus movement creates the wind of the field on the stage. "In this production there are eleven actors. Actually we thought that there should have been thirteen on the stage. Odd numbers seem to be looked unbalanced but on the other hands even numbers look stable and have balance on the stage. An odd number of actors on the stage means they are struggling to find the balance of the dynamism on stage which will make audience feel the tension because it is an attempt to keep balance trembling." Architectural MovementProfessor Im is now writing his second book. I asked what the first book is about. He looks at his wife and laughs. "Well, the first book is on Mime," he confesses, as though bracing himself for not sounding more original. "The second book is on architectural movement." 'The physical body has structure jut as a building has. Prof. Im wants to explore the human body to find where spaces and structure can be developed. I asked him whether he ever attempted to direct any well-known plays using physical drama. He laughed and said, "Of course, in 2001. It was Hamlet. The text was deconstructed and analysed, and then we created the architectural structure of each character in the play. We renamed the play Spectrum 2001, based Shakespeare's Hamlet and it is performed by strong physical movement, manipulation of architectural objects and was a multi-media project'. Korean CriticsMr. Im has not had much joy from the South Korean critics. They came to see his play Between Two Gates, which is a visual and physical theatre production using movement, video art and live traditional music to show images of life and death. He wrote and directed the play. Not a single review was published. "The Korean critics were silent not only after seeing Between Two Gates but also after Woyzeck. There were many theatre critics but not a single review. He recalls that at a Reception after the show the only question he was asked by one critic was "Why do you have to show drama by using chairs and no language?" Why Chairs Indeed?He laughed and with some enthusiasm reminisced that while a student at Seoul Institute of the Arts, when he was about 21 years old, he recalled being in a lecture. It was delivered by Prof. Ann Min Su. The Professor demonstrated a scene from Woyzeck. Actors sat on chairs for the part. Once they went away, the empty chairs seemed to him real and appeared to attain lives of their own; they acquired a new meaning. When actors moved away the chairs looked more alive. He later forgot all about that incident. At the L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq his memory of that episode returned in a class about objects and, sure enough, it was then forgotten again. When he came back to Korea, after writing and directing Between Two Gates, the idea of directing Woyzeck with chairs came back to him. Woyzeck and ChairsA chair has meaning only when it is used for sitting. There is no other object that is complete only when it is used, in the same way a chair is. "In this production Woyzeck never sits on a chair because a chair is a metaphor of authority and establishment. However, when the chorus spin the chairs, the chairs are then used as a metaphor to expresses Woyzeck's mental state of confusion and frustration. On the other hand when chairs are piled up, this is used to express that Woyzeck's life is at stake. The piled-up chairs look very dangerous and it means that the emotional state of Woyzeck is also at stake. A pyramid made with chairs is also a metaphor or symbol of social or power hierarchy." A chair can be used to give a sense of oppression. Woyzeck is being put in a laboratory. The chairs are pulling him around, oppressing and breaking him. I wondered how many chairs were used before this perfectly designed chair was produced. Professor Im did not hesitate to confess with a smile that two previous designs of chairs were made but both broke during rehearsal! This third set was lucky. Why Choose Woyzeck?"Every director wants to try and direct Woyzeck," he says, as if to make it clear that producing Woyzeck successfully is the ultimate success of any director. Naturally there is more to it. Woyzeck is basically a scapegoat of the era. Every era there are Woyzecks who are the victims of the system. "Buchner does not want you to consider him someone specific, but rather to see him as universal," Mr. Im adds. The Grandmother's TaleWhat about the old grandmother, why don't we see her? "The voice projected at the end is that of the grandmother. In the original text, the old grandmother tells a story to Woyzeck's son who is left alone, but we did have a different interpretation, not to tell it Woyzeck' son, but to tell the story to Woyzeck himself. I would like to expand the audience's imagination by using only voices, which will give space for the audience to think about their own image of her tale." MusicMost of the music is by Astor Piazzolla as he is one of Professor Im's favorite composers. The violin in this recording is played by Gideon Kremer. 'Tango music expresses the emotions of the lower class; it is popular with the poor. We did not make the movements fit the music. The other way round, we first choreographed the movements and then played the music," he explains. "We were surprised that the music matched the movement so beautifully. I think that the choreography of the movement in Woyzeck is somewhat cold, but Pizazzolla's tango music is warm, so that it well matched." It was such a perfect ending to a most enjoyable experience. This play toured Switzerland and France last year. In October this year the group will be travelling to Poland and next year in January they will be coming to London's International Mime Festival and then to Taiwan! Don't miss the experience if you get the chance to see this inspiring production.
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