Walter Byongsok Chon, Assistant Professor of Dramaturgy and Theatre Studies, publishes his English translation of Sam-Shik Pai’s Korean play INCHING TOWARDS YEOLHA in the October issue of the journal Asymptote.
Yeolha refers to the destination of Jiwon Park (a.k.a. Yeon-Ahm), an 18th-century Korean philosopher who traveled to China in pursuit of practical ideas to modernize the traditional Korean society, which was driven by Confucianism. Based on Yeon-Ahm’s travelogue, The Jehol Diary, Pai created an allegorical satire, exploring the questions of tradition and innovation. The play introduces us to a nearly-fossilized, fictive village in a desert, and guides us through the turbulence the village undergoes at its first encounter with what the villagers call the “exotic.” Yeon-Ahm, the narrator of the play, is a “four-legged beast” and, as she tells the villagers of the world outside the village, provides the initial conflict of the play. Her talking eventually makes her the scapegoat to save the village from being “erased.”
The original Korean production of Inching Towards Yeolha premiered at Towol Theater in Seoul Arts Center, directed by Jin-Taek Sohn, in March 2007.
Walkabout Yeolha, an adaptation of Chon’s translation, premiered at Columbia University, adapted by Kyoung H. Park and directed by Kon Yi, in October 2010.
A passage from Act II and Act III was presented as a staged reading, directed by Sam Buggeln, at the conference Drama Across Borders: the Politics and Poetics of Contemporary Theatre in Translation, held at Cornell University and The Cherry Arts Space in Ithaca New York in May 2018.
Link to the Translation:
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20181022000423548