It's drama, drama, drama in Korea!

Earlier this month I co-directed an English play here at my school. I was asked to help with something in English for the school festival. The boys who volunteered wanted something funny, with fighting, it could only be ten minutes long and include a cast of fifteen. One of the students who speaks nearly perfect English suggested doing a take on Kurasawa’s “Rashamon” where different witnesses retell the same event in entirely different ways. Some of the younger boys decided against participating and I was left with about 8 Grade three students (Grade 9 age back home) who are all part of the student government.We began rehearsals about a month before the festival and they were hilarious. You have to understand what these boys are like to truly appreciate it. They are extremely physical and are constantly either hitting each other or stroking each other. So a typical rehearsal involved them hitting each other over the head using these metal poles that they seem to always find, poking each others asses with the poles or sitting two to a chair, on laps like petting each others arms and heads. Highlights from rehearsal? The time that someone stole the main character’s mechanical pencil and he was so upset that he went behind a desk and laid on the floor for the entire rehearsal. No one seemed to find this odd but me. I had to read his part while he was like a foot away! Also, once the costumes came out the boy playing “Girlfriend” decided to wear a miniskirt. And let me tell you, it was mini. His boxers kept sticking out the bottom and whenever he had to fall to the ground or walk over someone else on the ground his fellow cast members gave a collective “Oh my God!” and random Korean expletives (p.s. all Koreans seems to love to say “shit”). I actually overheard him say “Oh my balls!” at one point which is amazing when you consider the English he doesn’t understand. The play ended up going very well and I was happy I did it. I will have a DVD copy of the whole school festival that I will have to screen to everyone when I get home.