The Angel & The Woodcutter (Korea) at Pavillion

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This heartbreaking story with a powerful anti-war message will be performed on the 11th July at 8pm.

Amid chaos and destruction blooms a beautiful Korean folk tale that speaks of hope. Staged entirely without words to haunting music, this unique and critically acclaimed masterpiece of movement theatre, reaches out to a Western audiences. Performed around the world, including a hit run at Edinburgh 2007, it is dramatic, uplifting and utterly compelling.

Cho-In Theatre was founded as a movement theatre company to transcend the limits verbal language imposes on audiences. Using a blend of Korean traditional and contemporary movement styles we aim to bring audiences together to share those universal traits that make us human irrespective of nationality, race or culture.

Cho-In Theatre performs entirely without words: “In Korea’s traditional performing arts there is a saying that the most important thing is breathing; of course everyone can breathe, but this is breathing as communication. Koreans believe that if the actors and the audience can breathe together then we can feel each other’s hearts. Our body move­ments are also important, because even though we can lie with words our body language cannot lie, it will always betray us. So I wanted to make a new ‘true’ theatrical lan­guage focusing mainly on breathing and body language.” – Chung-euy Park, Director

Inspired by their country’s experiences during the Japanese Occupation and the Korean War

The Angel and the Woodcutter is a traditional folk tale loved by Koreans. It tells the story of an angel who ventures down to earth to bathe in the mountain streams, where she is discovered by a woodcutter and his mother. Director Park Chung-euy takes the framework of this traditional tale, and sets it amidst a terrible war. The woodcutter is forced to go to war, is battered into a martial spirit by masked soldiers and from thereon in the women are tossed from place to place by violence and starvation, striving by any means to keep the child alive. This production explores the extreme fragility of everyday life, and the strength and endurance of human love.