Multicultural discourse in theatre = The study of Seonho Song’s production of Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s Invasion in Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Multiculturalism in Korea is problematic for a number of reasons. Koreans tend to view their nation through the eyes of nationalism. Public discourse at all levels reinforces the idea of ‘the Korean people’. The Korean society is still dominated by a strong sense of homogeneity and Confucian patriarchal traditions. Koreans continue to consider themselves as a unique folk group. Moreover, multiculturalism emerged as a topic for debate not too long ago. Integrating immigrants into a society is difficult everywhere, but even more so without experience. This article seeks to describe how contemporary Swedish play with themes of cultural diversity is understood within a powerful discourse about the multicultural society. Through the performance analysis of the Swedish playwright Jonas Hassen Khemiri’s inventive tragicomedy Invasion, premiering in South Korea at Arko Arts Theatre in 2011, this article explores the recent discourse on multicultural democracy in theatre. Koreans were deeply affected by Khemiri’s Invasion as an explosive black comedy that assaults our deepest prejudices towards identity, race, and language. It deals with prejudice against other religions, cultures, legal contradictions facing immigrants, and thereby fears of the unknown or the non-familiar. The production of Invasion in South Korea takes the form of a play-within-a-play as a live show format and open broadcasting framework that reinforce the theatricality of this highly unique drama. It is of central importance to this paper to provide an outline on the concepts of multiculturalism connected to the role of theatre in the context of democracy.

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