Tennessee Williams in Korean theatre

Tennessee Williams has been exceptionally popular in Korean theatre for the latter half of the twentieth century. Williams also has been largely influential in introducing American popular culture into Korean society. My dissertation details theatrical, social, and scholastic information about Korean performances of Williams's dramas in terms of translation, casting, theatrical technique, and audience response. There is an introductory chapter discussing Tennessee Williams's realism and four other chapters, each dedicated to his most popular plays on the Korean stage: A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, and The Rose Tattoo.; Tennessee Williams is an important American and Southern playwright. Through the rich, detailed realistic staging of the typical Southern landscape, characters, and atmosphere, Williams leads his audience to the beauty, the emotion, and the suffering of the South. How this translates into another culture provides insight into Williams, the South, and the problems of translation. The introductory chapter examines Williams's realism and its impact on Korean productions of his dramas. In addition to the literary history of realistic drama in Korean theatre, the development of realism in American theatre is also discussed. Because of Williams's poetic realism, in which lyrical and poetic language is used to describe sordid, cruel, and violent reality, Korean audiences have enthusiastically embraced his plays.; Tennessee Williams's plays have been performed extensively in Korea since the Korean premiere of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1955. The Korean premiere of both The Glass Menagerie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof were staged successfully in 1959.; Obviously, there have been significant differences between the Seoul and Broadway productions. Early productions from 1950s to 1970s were characterized by realistic staging in which directors had attempted to represent Williams's characters as well as backgrounds as faithfully and accurately as possible. From mid 80s through 90s, more diverse approaches have been applied to the plays, producing more appealing and culturally unique productions. By raising questions of the traditional value of the good and the evil, by employing a feministic perspective and minimal expressionism, and by presenting a superb setting design, Seoul audiences could see Williams's plays differently from past Korean productions. Most Korean productions of Williams's dramas have been successful both commercially and theatrically. The dissertation explores how Korean theatre has presented Williams's major plays, which helps explain how American popular culture has influenced Korean society.