The Coronet Theatre in London / Courtesy of the Coronet Theatre

The Coronet Theatre in Notting Hill, London

XXL Leotard and Anna Sui Hand Mirror was presented for three days from 29 September to 1 October 2022 at The Coronet Theatre in Notting Hill, London. Dolpagu participated in the ‘Tiger is Coming’ festival organized by the Coronet Theatre. Anda Winters, artistic director of the Coronet Theatre, is from Croatia. The theatre in Notting Hill, which was built as an opera house in the 19th century and used as a movie theatre after World War I, was bought by the Coronet Theatre at an auction about 10 years ago and is now being operated as a performing arts theatre. The Coronet Theatre, which has been introducing Asian, especially Japanese performing arts to London, has introduced Korean arts and artists to London in 2022. Anda Winters stayed in Korea for three months during the COVID-19 pandemic watching performances and meeting with artists in order to invite the work. The 2022 ‘Tiger is Coming’ festival featured artist Choi Jeong Hwa in fine art, LEENALCHI in music, Ambiguous Dance Company, Choreographer Kim Modeun and Collective A in dance, Tacit Group in multidisciplinary arts, and Dolpagu in theatre.

Anda Winters, Artistic Director of the Coronet Theatre and Inchul Jun,
Director of Dolpagu / Courtesy of Dolpagu

XXL Leotard & Anna Sui Hand Mirror

However, when I checked the theatre plan of the Coronet Theater, its black box was too small to consider presenting I'm Waiting For You in it. Making a black box on the proscenium stage was an option, but it would take too much time and money. Then, I thought it would be nice to introduce Korean creative plays in London, so I proposed presenting XXL Leotard and Anna Sui Hand Mirror, which Dolpagu had been performing for a long time. The issue of gender identity may not be an interesting topic for London audiences, but I wanted to expose the issue that contemporary Korean audiences have been dealing with in their lives as it is. I’m Waiting for You is in a format where the stage and the video are at the center of the performance and the story and the actors follow the image. And it is different from the style I have been adhering to so far. I also thought that XXL Leotard & Anna Sui Hand Mirror, where everything is done by the actor’s performance, is modest but can show me as a creator well. I wanted to engage with the audience with my favorite work, not a work tailored to those who visit the theater. While exploring thes ideas, I didn’t have anyone I could consult with, who was experienced. There was no one around me that I could speak to about tours overseas, and there were no colleagues or mentors who had that kind of experience. I felt somewhat isolated.

Curtain call of XXL Leotard and Anna Sui Hand Mirror / Courtesy of the Coronet Theatre

Preparing the Subtitles

When we said we were going on a UK tour, we heard a lot that it would be difficult to convey the story through subtitles because British audiences are not used to reading subtitles. However, no one told us specifically how to prepare for this. For others who might go on a tour overseas in the future, I am sharing how we prepared the English subtitles for this performance. The Literature Translation Institute of Korea translates selected works from Korean to English through a contest. We participated in the contest in the field of plays, and our work was selected for translation. It was translated by a translator named Kyungjin Lee. The first draft of the translation was very well done, and Kyungjin polished it to completion through the process at the institute. Then Dolpagu commissioned Paul Matthews, an English artist living in Korea, for the theatre adaptation. And Paul turned the translation into a script for performance. Then, production manager Baek Kyo-hee checked all the lines one by one and put it into a Powerpoint presentation. During the two-day rehearsals at the Coronet Theatre, its producer Cathy sat in the audience carefully looking into the actors’ language and subtitles. And she suggested that the best way to enjoy this performance would be to have two or three lines of subtitles pop up before the actors speak so that the audience could read the subtitles first before they see the actors’ performances. That way, the audience can both read the subtitles and see the actors. The audience saw the actors’ performance once they finished reading the subtitles, and there was no problem with delivering the story. I couldn’t help but be surprised because the reaction of the audience every moment was the same as in Korea.

Hally! The Korean Wave

Unlike when I visited five years ago, it is not difficult to come across something related to Korea in London. There is a Korean restaurant in the building right in front of The Coronet Theatre, and a Korean coffee shop in the building next door. Hallyu, the Korean Wave is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum, one of London’s prominent museums, from September 24th to June 25th, 2023.It exhibits K-pop, K-drama, K-beaty, and Korean movies along with Korean society and history. The exhibition deals with how the sentiments enjoyed by Koreans and the development of technology were combined with popular culture and spread.The London audience’s enthusiastic response to XXL Leotard and Anna Sui Hand Mirror could also be understood in the context of the Korean Wave.The audience at the Coronet Theater was from various ages groups. They were familiar with Korean dramas from Netflix shows and could speak simple Korean. During a talk with the audience, I asked how they came to see the performance, and they said that they found out about it on the Coronet Theater’s Instagram page. The people who came to the theatre were the ones who had interest in theatre among those who enjoy Korean culture. In the talk with the audience, I heard people saying "I want to see your audacious stories" and "It’s nice to see Korean actors performing in person". London audiences are also accustomed to watching dramas with subtitles due to Netflix. It seems that non-verbal performance and Korean adaptations of Shakespearean plays are no longer of interest to them. In the current trend of the Korean Wave, I thought that it would be nice if more Korean theatre productions are performed overseas. During the 1 hour and 30 minute performance, I was very surprised to see the London audience reacting almost the same as the Korean audience. Although our daily lives are very different, we have been connected to each other through the same experience.

Pleasure of Exchange

I told the artistic director of the Coronet Theater, Anda Winters, that I wanted to introduce young Korean playwrights to London audiences. Anda said she also wants to meet Korean performers. "I have seen too many Shakespearean plays," and "I want to hear eye-opening stories," she said with a laugh. I didn’t have high expectations for an overseas tour while working in theatre. However the Coronet Theatre and the audience who visited it gave me new joy and meaning in theatre. This memory will remain with me for a long time.

Inchul Jun
Inchul was born in Gangneung-si, Korea.
He is a theatre director, currently working with the Dolpagu.