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Light goes out on stage as they prepare the shadows. Then the light turns on again.
All eyes of the young audience and their family gather to the stage.
Two thin dried-up trees stand…

The dictionary definition of ‘shadow’ is ‘a dark area or shape created by a body/object when light cannot pass through the object. A pattern₁ that appears behind the object when it faces the light source.’ While we are not always conscious of the existence of our shadows, perhaps the time we are most accurately aware of our shadow is when we are in bed at night. You all probably have experience playing with your own shadows when you go to bed, after turning off all the light except the single lamp sitting on top of a desk, right next to your bed.

Those shadows come in different shapes, sometimes turning into a beautiful princess, a scary tiger, and even into a magician that plays mysterious tricks. When we look back into our past, we can say that those shadows were a jester with thousand faces, guiding us through the fantastic world of dream. However, we have now grown into adults who no longer venture into the world of shadows. The only shadow we can see is the glimpse of our exhausted figure, looking tired and worn out by the mundane that follows us. Luckily, we were able to rediscover our lost shadows at ACC. The shadow started whispering into our ears. It was about ‘the story that we all know but don’t know at the same time.’

ACC and Theatre ‘Bookmark’
on Climate Change

Croak, Croak, Whale, Whale, a play that raised the curtain on June 26 and 27, is the first chapter of the “2021 ACC Asia Story Children’s New Theatre Series”. With the aim of developing a new children’s theatre based on Asian stories, this work was selected through the 2020 competition. It is a theatre that has been developed for over two years through a collaboration between Asia Culture Institute and Theatre ‘Bookmark.’

There is a Korean saying, ‘Frogs croak, and the rain comes down’, and the Vietnamese have their own folklore about ‘Why does it rain when frogs croak?’ Croak, Croak, Whale, Whale is a play that has been created based on that story. What did the little frog GurGur want to say to the kids of the city, who grew up without hearing the sound of frogs?

Theatre Bookmark is oriented towards a physical theatre based on mime and dance to the audience through close and intimate performance. They have collaborated with artists that come from various genres and artistic backgrounds, experimenting with new formats and projects that can be performed everywhere without space restrictions. After waiting and preparing for so long during the height of the pandemic, both the actors and staff members are extremely excited to finally meet with their audience again. The theatre put additional effort and care to make the play extra special, because this play was intended for children over 36 months and it may be “the first performance in life” for some of their younger audience. The joy of children singing along like little frogs in the theatre was certainly not a coincidence.

Why did the little frog GurGur have to go to the ocean?

The light comes on, and three actors are getting dressed on stage. The three clowns each become a tiger, an elephant, and a deer. This used to be a place for all kinds of animals and plants living harmoniously around the flowing water. But ever since a drought occurred, there turned into a barren desert only filled with skinny, dying trees and thirsty animals. “Barren, barren! It’s all dried up. The rain stopped, and I’m thirsty, thirsty.” The tiger is too thirsty to roar, the elephant’s skin is cracking, and the deer has dry eyes. The funny faces of the thirsty animals make everyone burst out laughing. But then you begin to think… ‘What would happen to the real world if there were no water or rain?’ It dawns on us that the 7.8 billion people, all animals, plants, and birds around the world won’t be able to sing, laugh, or even smile without water. It seems that a dry desert wind began to blow through the heavy hearts of adult audiences, holding the hands of their children.

The brave little frog GurGur stands up for his friends who are desperate for rain. He asks the parrot for a solution, and the parrot tells him about “Mr. Whale.” According to the parrot, Mr. Whale knows how to make rain fall down from the sky, and they should go to the sea to meet Mr. Whale. After hearing about the mysterious Mr. Whale, GurGur and his three friends head for the ocean to find Mr. Whale.

The Stage, filled with ‘Shadows and Margins’

Actors move busily, bringing the story to life using puppets, shadows, and gestures. An actor pulls out a lantern that was hidden in his pocket and shines it on a paper screen held by another actor, creating an array of shadows. Usually, shadow plays create shadows on the screen for the audience by placing the light behind the screen and showing the shadows cast by objets₂. However, this play openly shows actors lying on the stage floor to make the shadows. By exposing that process, the director intends to make the audience want to play with shadows, too. To give a three-dimensional effect to the shadows, the troupe creates a tiered train model. The enlarged shadow of the train rushes towards the audience. Small becomes large, large becomes small… A world where ‘size’ isn’t clearly defined —the world of shadows.

The steel ladder that appears on the stage turns into a train and heads for the ocean. The elephant aboard starts to sing. The theme music of the movie Mission Impossible runs in the background, played by traditional Korean instruments. Then, the elephant burst out in pansori. “Let’s go~ Let’s go~ Away we go.” It is hard not to laugh. With the bellowing voice of the elephant, the gang arrive at the sea.  

Was there a time when you visited the beach and were surprised by how different it was from the way you remembered? The large white sand beach became narrow, and all that’s left is the malodorous sea full of trash and waste. That was the sea that GurGur and his friends encountered. A plastic ‘curtain’ made with ramen packages and shiny plastic bottles crumples towards the audience. The vinyl screen shining under the light wiggles like a depressing husk that the humans have left behind.  

Now, the friends must build a boat to meet Mr. Whale. Paper puppets jump onto the white paper boat. Elephants, deers, tigers… Oops! The boat capsizes before GurGur could even come aboard. Is this an allusion to Noah’s Ark, where only the chosen animals can live? GurGur has no option but to embark on a journey alone. The adventure on the sea in search of Mr. Whale reminds us of our childhood when we used to play with paper dolls. There were days where we could spend an entire day laughing and giggling, playing on our own with just a few paper dolls. I wonder where the paper boats that we have floated upon our imaginary sea ended up?

The paper boat is swept up in the storm. GurGur falls into the ocean. Luckily, he meets Mr. Whale inside the belly of the whale. But Mr. Whale himself is in a bind—the plastic waste is suffocating him, blocking his airway. How did GurGur overcome this crisis? I’ll leave the ending to your imagination. There is only shadows, props, and actors standing in the “empty” stage, but it is also filled with fantasy and nostalgia. 

Story about Climate Change
“Story you know well, but don’t know much”

Have you ever heard of the “Cassandra’s curse”? She was a Trojan princess who appears in the ancient Greek myth. She was gifted with the ability to foresee the future, but also cursed at the same time with no one believing her words. Many scientists who study climate change describe their situation using her as a metaphor.₃ All those stories about climate change. We have heard about those stories so many times, but we have only let such stories cause worries and fears within our minds without making any changes of our own. The reason why this play is about a “story we know, but we don’t know” is because we may be heading to a foregone conclusion, unless we move beyond our vague fear about climate change and make actual changes.

Climate change is an imbalance of the earth where one side suffers from draught while the other side drowns in flood. The iceberg, which keeps the earth cool, starts to melt down, and the heated air becomes trapped in the atmosphere, increasing the temperature of the ground. While humans prioritized the logic of wealth and progress, the circulation system of Earth is slowly getting destroyed, turning our planet into something similar to a broken fridge. In the worst-case scenario, our children might become the first generation that has to experience and suffer all the side effects of climate change. A heavy shadow passes behind the children’s laughter and springy steps. Although the play shows a happy ending where Mr. Whale tells GurGur and his friends about the secret of rain, the shadow asks a question about the real-life version of the story that we are offering to our children.

1) Doosan Dictionary
2) Objet : In Surrealist art, everyday objects, natural objects, or objects unrelated to art are separated from their original context and used in a symbolic way to create an uncanny effect. Examples include stones, tree bark pieces, or human hair used in art to create symbols, dreamy, or eerie effects. – Standard Dictionary.
3) Andri Snær Magnason 「On Time and Water」 , trans. Roh Seung Young (Bookhouse, 2020).

• Written by Nana Park. tonana@hanmail.net
  Photo. Provided by ACC
  
  2021.07