The Origin and Development of Korean Drama

The "new drama", which is completely different from traditional dramas such as masked dancing, was first performed in Korea on190265438+February. However, after 1908 opened a western-style theater in Seoul, the new drama began to take root in South Korea. This theater is called Yuanjue Society Theater, and it is closed at 1909.

Students who returned from studying in Japan set up innovative groups and Wen Xiuxing Troupe to stage new plays. The new drama is the opposite of the old drama or Japanese kabuki. At the beginning, the new drama was mainly political and military, and later its content was diversified, including detective novels, soap operas and tragedies.

When the new drama is regarded as a short-lived fashion, some artists united around Jue Yuan society contributed to a real drama wave and opened the curtain of modern drama. 1922, a group of people from the drama circle formed "Tu Yue Hui" and led the drama movement in South Korea, giving 87 performances. Modern drama was still popular until 1930' s, but gradually declined in 1940' s and 1950' s due to social and political turmoil, and further declined in the following 10' s due to the prosperity of movies and the appearance of television.

In 1970s, a group of young artists began to learn and adopt the genres and themes of traditional drama, such as mask dance drama, shamanism ceremony and chorus drama. The Korean Literature and Art Foundation holds a drama festival every year to encourage drama performances from all over the world. At present, a large number of troupes perform all the year round, from comedies to historical narrative poems, and perform in the small theater on University Road in downtown Seoul. Some performances were very successful and the performance period was extended.