[News Culture] The National Jeongdong Theater of Korea will bring ‘Sunanidae,’ a new pansori-driven adaptation of Ha Geun-chan’s celebrated short story, to its Cecil stage from Aug. 27 through Sept. 1.
Selected for the traditional arts section of the theater’s 2026 Creative ing program, the production turns one of Korea’s defining stories of wartime loss into an original music theater work built around pansori and traditional performance.
At the heart of ‘Sunanidae’ are a father who has lost an arm and a son who has lost a leg. Their injuries bear the scars of two successive periods of Korean history — Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War — placing the personal costs of history within the lives of a single family.
Yet the production is less interested in tragedy for its own sake than in what allows the two men to continue. A bundle of mackerel they refuse to let go becomes a modest but resonant image of that determination: the will to hold onto one another and keep living despite what history has taken from them.
The stage adaptation draws on the narrative force of pansori while incorporating talchum, or Korean mask dance, and traditional comic storytelling. Audience participation is also built into the production through chuimsae, the vocal responses traditionally offered during pansori performances. Rather than remaining passive observers, theatergoers become part of the rhythm and emotional momentum of the performance.
Another central element is Yongmeorijae, a key location from the original story, reimagined here as part of the stage environment. Ensemble performers move between the roles of dochang — narrative singers who guide the story — and commentators, while also taking on multiple characters. The shifting structure allows the production to move between the father and son’s inner lives and the wider historical world surrounding them.
“The work is rooted in the pain of Korea’s modern history, but it does not stop at recreating the past,” National Jeongdong Theater CEO Seo Seung-man said. “Through pansori, it connects generations and brings the impulse to hold onto one another into the present.”
That emphasis gives the new ‘Sunanidae’ its contemporary edge. The father and son cannot undo the damage done to their bodies, but together they compensate for what each has lost. Their story ultimately becomes less about endurance as an abstract virtue than about survival made possible through dependence, trust and companionship.
By returning Ha’s story to a form built on voice, response and communal listening, ‘Sunanidae’ turns a familiar piece of Korean literature into something meant to be experienced collectively. This summer at the Cecil theater, its story of two wounded generations will once again be told — this time with the audience answering back.
Reported by News Culture M.J._mj94070777@nc.press
Copyright ⓒ 뉴스컬처 무단 전재 및 재배포 금지
본 콘텐츠는 뉴스픽 파트너스에서 공유된 콘텐츠입니다.
