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Sadari Movement Laboratory Performs at London Mime Festival

At the London Mime Festival (January 21-27), Sadari Movement Laboratory performed Woyzeck at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, in London. The Korean theater company’s rendition of Woyzeck, which won a “Herald Angel” award and a “Total Theater” award, introduced Korea’s theatrical performance to the international audiences at the London Mime Festival. The performances were highly praised for the presentation of graceful imagery to the accompaniment of the music of Piazolla.
It was rain, as expected, that welcomed us when we arrived in London after a long flight. Although not as cold as in Korea, the coldness of London seemed to penetrate to the bone. I could sense a certain unease of the performers, who tightly zipped up their jackets for protection against the cold.

The next morning, we came across the London Eye, the world’s largest Ferris wheel, which was built as a tourist attraction to celebrate the new millennium. “Ah, we are really in London! To perform at the Southbank Centre, the cultural heart of London!” While vaguely recalling a backpack visit to London sometime ago, the performers and staff, who were filled with anticipation of visiting a new place, along with being concerned about their physical condition, breathed in the air of London and headed for the rehearsal venue.
After being invited to perform at the London Mime Festival, Sadari Movement Laboratory embarked on a new beginning in 2008 with its performance of Woyzeck at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre, London. A year ago, at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2007, the Woyzeck presentation was highly lauded, along with receiving a “Herald Angel” award and a “Total Theatre” award, and being selected by BBC as one of the top ten works. The art director of the London Mime Festival, who attended a Woyzeck performance in Edinburgh, admired the wonderful imagery d by a combination of contemporary dance and play. And soon after, Sadari Laboratory Movement was invited to perform an opening work for the 2008 festival, which marked the 30th year of its operation.



One of the most influential and visionary performing art festivals in the world, the London Mime Festival is a representative mime event, along with the International Contemporary Mime Festival (MIMOS) of France. The focus of the London Mime Festival was clearly expressed in its theme: “Eye-Popping Visual Theatre for the Digital Age!” The festival accommodates works of new and various forms of plays, with an emphasis on the texts of movements, such as physical theater, visual theater, objet theater, movement theater, and new circus, rather than the “pantomime” which most people might think of.
The event is held annually in January, in conjunction with the world-renowned theaters of London, such as the Barbican, BAC, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room, and ICA. A total of 16 works from the U.K., Germany, Russia, Belgium, Spain, Japan, Portugal, France, and Korea were staged at the London Mime Festival 2008. Due to high expectations about the 30th anniversary of the festival, more than 80 percent of tickets were already sold by Christmas last year. Those involved in the field of performing arts, not only from Europe but also from all over the world, came to the London Mime Festival to see the latest developments.
Instead of staging Woyzeck as an opening work of the festival, it was presented at a large 800-seat theater. While preparing for the performance, everyone was noticeably excited and nervous. Word about our work had spread across Europe, following the group’s huge success in Edinburgh, which added to our sense of apprehension. Many people who saw our performance at Edinburgh or heard about it sent us e-mails that they would be visiting London to see our Woyzeck. After completing the setup and rehearsal prior to the first performance, we were filled with anticipation when the organizer told us it would be an almost sold-out event.
“How many people will come to see our performance? Will they be able to understand our version of Woyzeck, which includes lines in Korean? Will they like our work?” Feeling mounting tension, as if making a debut, the performers prepared for their first meeting with the British audience. People filed into the hall and took their seats. A chair on the stage attracted the attention of the audience. It disappeared into the eyes of the audience, and the audience disappeared into the darkness, without knowing what kind of fantasy the chair, usually used for sitting, would represent with Woyzeck. The performers and the chairs, along with the audience started to move slowly to the music of Piazolla. Occasional laughter and a sense of stifled breathing among the audience, at the passionate music and physical movements, let us know they were fully absorbed in the performance.
Sometimes used as an instrument for a marching military band, a device and space for love between man and woman, Woyzech’s mind, an experiment stand, and a huge liquor cup, the chairs ­ the only props of the performance ­ d an intriguing sense of time and space. After the death of Marie, Woyzeck and the chorus, along with the dramatic music of Piazolla, dominated the hall with animated and graceful movements. The audience seemed to hold their collective breath throughout the final dance of Woyzeck. Empty chairs on the stage ­ the audience finally exhaled ­ and then erupted with rousing applause.
Many of those in the audience did not leave the theater after the performance. They looked at the chairs on the stage and wandered around the hall and the lobby, wondering if the performers might appear. Some people said they were amazed by the precise and rapid changes and ensemble of the performers and chairs, and that they had no difficulty at all in understanding the work, even though the lines were presented in Korean. Others praised the wonderful imagery and repeatedly exclaimed “Congratulations!” The audience was captivated by this Woyzeck rendition, not of Germany but from Korea, which was staged three times at the festival. Beginning with this participation at the London Mime Festival 2008, Sadari Movement Laboratory’s Woyzeck, as a contemporary form of Korean theater, looks forward to entertaining many more international audiences.

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